*?* 


, — #2 

LI  BR  AR  Y 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

GIKT    OF" 


Received ^ 
Accessions  No.^£>&&Ji~      Shelf  No. 


C-aAn 


oun 


\-a~t  \ 


A  HISTORY 


OF    THE 


CALHOUN  MONUMENT 


AT 


CHARLESTON,  S.  C. 


CHARLESTON,  S.  C. 
LUCAS,  RICHARDSON  &  Co.,  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINTERS> 

No.  130  EAST  BAY  STREET. 
1888. 


- 


PREFACE. 


1 
N  having  the  following  pages  strung  together  the  object  of 
the  LADIES'  CALHOUN  MONUMENT  ASSOCIATION  is  to  have 
the  incidents  connected  with  their  work  put  in  convenient 
shape  for  those  of  the  public  in  general  who  may  take  an  interest 
in  it,  but  more  especially  for  those,  and  the  children  of  those, 
who  have  contributed  towards  it  in  money  and  lent  to  it  their 
every  energy.     It  is  also  the  desire  of   the  ladies  to  pay  MR. 
LAMAR  the  compliment  of  having  his  speech,  delivered  on  the 
occasion  of  the  unveiling  of  the  monument,  put  in  book  form  so 
that  they  can  not  only  place  it  upon  the  shelves  of  their  own 
libraries,  but  place  it  upon  the  shelves  of  many  of  the  libraries 
of  the  schools,  colleges  and  public  institutions  of  the  country  as 
an  exponent  of  two  great  men, — the  subject  of  the  oration  and 
orator  himself,  men  whose  voices  will  speak  on  forever. 

CLARENCE  CUNINGHAM. 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

ADDRESS  OF  MAYOR  COURTENAY 55 

BATTERY,  ON  THE    48 

CEREMONIES  OF  THE  UNVEILING 41 

GUESTS  OF  THE  CITY,  THE Ill 

ITEMS  OF  INTEREST 112 

MARION  SQUARE 52 

ODE  BY  Miss  E.  B.  CHEESBOROUGH 59 

ORATION  OF  THE  HON.  L.  Q.  C.  LAMAR 63 

POEMS  BY  MRS.  MARGARET  J.  PRESTON 107 

PRAYER,  BY  REV.  DR.  PINCKNEY 57 

PROCESSION 48 

SALUTE,  THE 110 

SKETCH  OF  THE  WORK  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION 2 

LETTERS — 

Ames,  Oliver,  Governor  of  Massachusetts 185 

Barton,  Clara ' 124 

Bayard,  T.  F.,  Secretary  of  State 127 

Beauregard,  G.  T.  Gen 144 

Beaver,  James  A.,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania     141 

Bonham,  M.  L 125 

Bonham,  M.  L.  J.,  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General  of  S.  C 182 

Charleston,  City  Council  of,  by  W.  W.  Simons     144 

Cleveland,  Grover,  President 126 

Colhoun.  James  Edward     118 

Corcoran,  W.  W 119 

Corcoran,  W.  W 120 

Corcoran,  W.  W 120 

Courtenay,  Win.  A..  Mayor  of  Charleston 110 

Currier,  Moody,  Governor  of  New  Hampshire   133 

Davis,  Jefferson,  Ex.-President  of  the  C.  S.  A 117 

Dibble,  Samuel,  Congressman ...    132 

Earle,  A.  H 126 

Endicot,  William  C.,  Secretary  of  War 128 

Fairchild,  Charles  S.,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 128 

Fish,  Hamilton 122 

Fleming,  T.  P 137 

Fredericksburg,  Va.,  City  Council  of,  by  J.  Hazard 145 


vi.  Index. 

PAGE. 

LETTERS — 

Gray,  Isaac  P.,  Governor  of  Indiana 142 

Green,  Robert  S.,  Governor  of  New  Jersey 140 

Harllee,  W.  W 123 

Hill,  D.  B.,  Governor  of  New  York,  by  W.  G.  Rice 134 

Hunter,  R.  M.  T 118 

Johnston,  Mrs.  Eliza  Griffin 124 

Johnston,  George  D.,  Superintendent  of  Citadel  of  Charleston   133 

Johnston,  Wm.  Preston 125 

Knott,  J.  Proctor,  Governor  of  Kentucky 138 

Lee,  Gen.  Curtis,  by  W.  C.  Ludwig 125 

Lee,  Fitzhugh,  Governor  of  Virginia ' .  .  .   134 

Leitner,  W.  Z.,  Secretary  of  State  of  South  Carolina 131 

Luce,  C.  G.,  Governor  of  Michigan 141 

Lounsbury,  Phineas  C.,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  by  G.  P.  McLean.  140 

Lowry,  Robert,  Governor  of  Mississippi 143 

Martin,  John  A.,  Governor  of  Kansas 135 

McEnery,  S.  D.,  Governor  of  Louisiana 136 

Pennoyer,  Sylvester,  Governor  of  Oregon 138 

Perry,  Ed.  A.,  Governor  of  Florida 137 

Petersburg,  Va.,  City  Council  of,  by  T.  J.  Janatt 146 

Richardson,  J.  P.,  Governor  of  South  Carolina 130 

Richmond,  Va.,  City  Council  of,  by  B.  T.  August 147 

Russell,  F.  R 146 

Seay,  Thomas,  Governor  of  Alabama,  by  J.  R.  Jackson 139 

Scales,  A.  M.,  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  by  C.  H.  Armfield  138 

Simonton,  C.  H.,  Judge  of  U.  S.  District  Court  for  S.  C 130 

Simpson,  W.  D.,  Chief  Justice  of  South  Carolina 130 

Sloman,  the  Misses    124 

Stoney,  W.  E.,  Comptroller  General  of  South  Carolina    131 

Thayer,  John  M.,  Governor  of  Nebraska 134 

Thompson,  Hugh  S.,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 129 

Whetmore,  George  P.,  Governor  of  Rhode  Island 136 

Whitney,  W.  C.,  Secretary  of  the  Navy 129 

Wilmington,  N.  C.,  City  Council  of,  by  W.  A.  Wilson 145 

Winthrop,  Robert  C 121 

Zulick,  C.  Meyer,  Governor  of  Arizona 139 


A  SKETCH 


OF   THE 


FOUNDATION,  PROGRESS  AND  WORK 


OF   THE 


AS  PREPARED  FROM 


THE    MINUTE    BOOKS 


BY 


CLARENCE  CUNINGHAM. 


.-— 

•  \  his  domestic  and  public  virtues,  and  the 
""^L  purity  of  his  character ;  by  his  dual  nature  of 
M.  9  woman's  sympathy  and  man's  stouter  purpose, 
as  well  as  by  his  minute  and  accurate  investigation  in 
his  search  after  truth  as  the  basis  of  all  true  polity ;  by 
his  profound  and  wide  generalizations,  and  his  close 
analyses  involving  premises  and  conclusions  as  broad 
as  his  subjects;  by  his  quick  perception,  his  prompt 
and  determined  action,  and  by  his  constant  care  for  his 
family  and  toil  for  his  country's  good ;  by  that  strict 
integrity,  magnanimity  and  unflinching  courage,  as  by 
that  thorough  knowledge  and  reliant  patience,  that 
rigid  logic,  prophetic  glance  and  sincere  conviction, 
which  he  brought  into  his  every  public  movement, 
Mr.  Calhoun  won  the  love,  gained  the  confidence  and 
awakened  to  a  glow  the  admiration  of  his  people  at 
home  and  of  the  world  abroad,  and  challenged  the 
high  respect  alike  of  friend  and  foe. 

The  final  work  of  crystallizing  this  admiration  of  his 
people  and  giving  it  the  shape  of  a  realized  ideal  or 
symbol,  belongs  to  our  Women  of  South  Carolina, 
prominent  among  whom  was  Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden. 
One  of  her  original  co-workers  has  flatteringly  said  re 
cently  in  print,  u  She  was  the  prime  mover,  tireless 
worker  and  chief  inspiration  of  the  'Ladies'  Calhoun 
Monument  Association.' '  It  was  Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden 
who,  as  Miss  Amarintha  Yates,  succeeded  in  gathering, 
including  herself,  eleven  ladies  in  her  mother's  drawing- 
room,  Church  street,  Charleston,  S.  C.,  on  the  23d  Jan- 


uary,  1854,  and  there  and  then  was  organized  the  said 
Association.  The  ladies  present  were :  Mrs.  Esther 
Monk,  Mrs.  Richard  Yeadon,  Mrs.  I.  S.  Snowden,  Mrs. 
Normand  Porter,  Mrs.  Richard  Stone,  Mrs.  Henry  Gray, 
Mrs.  Richard  Scriven,  Miss  M.  A.  Yates,.  Miss  Noble, 
Miss  Palmer  and  Miss  Cheesborough.  Mrs.  Monk  was 
called  to  the  chair,  and  Miss  E.  B.  Cheesborongh  was 
appointed  Secretary.  The  following  ladies  were  then 
elected  officers  of  the  Association  :  Mrs.  Esther  Monk, 
President ;  Mrs.  John  M.  Fludd  and  Mrs.  Henry  Gray, 
Vice-Presidents ;  Miss  E.  B.  Cheesborough  and  Miss  L. 
S.  Porter,  Corresponding  Secretaries ;  Miss  Maria  Chees 
borough,  Recording  Secretary ;  and  Miss  M.  A.  Yates, 
(afterwards  Mrs.  Snowden)  Treasurer. 

A  Constitution  having  been  framed  and  adopted  by 
these  ladies  assembled  at  Mrs.  Yates?,  it  declared  their 
society  should  be  known  as  the  "  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monu 
ment  Association,"  and  that  its  object  should  be  "to  aid 
in  the  erection,  in  or  near  the  City  of  Charleston,  of  a 
monument  sacred  to  the  memory  of  John  C.  Calhoun." 
Article  third  of  the  Constitution  provided  that  "  any 
person  could  become  a  member  after  paying  one  dollar 
into  the  Treasury;"  while  Article  fifth  provided  that 
"  Auxiliary  Associations  could  be  established  in  any 
part  or  parts  of  the  State,"  and  hence  there  were  elect 
ed  as  "directresses"  a  number  of  ladies,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  conduct  the  general  affairs  of  the  Association, 
and  especially  to  obtain  contributions  and  to  extend 
and  increase  in  every  direction  the  membership. 

Before  this  first  informal  meeting  was  dissolved,  it 
was  unanimously  resolved  that  circulars  be  printed  con 
taining  the  Constitution  and  a  statement  of  the  object 
of  the  Association ;  and  that  said  circulars  be  transmit- 


ted  to  ladies  in  various  districts,  towns  and  villages  of 
the  State :  while  other  circulars  be  prepared  and  ad 
dressed  to  the  young,  and  be  sent  to  the  different 
schools  and  colleges.  Thus  we  see  that  in  that  first 
meeting  a  most  thorough  system  was  instituted  not  only 
to  raise  funds  for  the  noble  and  obligatory  object  in 
view,  but,  also,  to  put  it  in  the  way  of  every  man,  wo 
man  and  child  of  this  State  to  be  approached  in  behalf 
of  this  same  object,  and  to  give  each  and  all  the  oppor 
tunity  of  taking  part,  and,  in  that  way,  claiming  a  share 
in  the  lofty  tribute  to  be  paid  to  the  memory  of  the 
most  distinguished  son  of  the  Commonwealth  of  South 
Carolina;  the  most  conscientious  and  profound  states 
man  of  the  Federal  States  of  the  Union ;  and  the  broad 
est  and  deepest  political  thinker  of  his  era; — that  era 
during  which  he  reigned  over  the  politics  of  the  West 
ern  World  for  forty  years. 

What  was  the  result  ?  Prompt  encouragement  came 
in  from  all  -sides,  and  substantial  success  was  all  1m t  im 
mediate.  On  March  (Hh,  1854,  when  the  first  regular 
meeting  was  held  at  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Henry  DeSaus- 
sure,  Meeting  street,  the  sum  of  $2,500  was  handed  in 
to  the  Treasurer.  In  this  assemblage  of  a  ''consider 
able  number  of  ladies,  evincing  a  lively  interest  "  in  the 
patriotic  undertaking,  there  was  the  greatest  satisfac 
tion  shown  upon  the  reports  from  a  large  number  of 
the  Directresses,  who  reported  collections,  but  preferred 
to  withhold  remittances  until  a  still  larger  sum  should 
have  been  taken  in.  There  was  sincere  rejoicing  over 
the  ready  aid  sent  and  over  the  spirit  shown  by  the 
young  in  the  schools  of  the  city ;  and  prominent  among 
these  young  people  was  a  volunteer  association,  which 
styled  itself  the  u  Juvenile  Branch."  On,  good  women, 


6 


with  your  noble  work !  for  mark,  though  your  Associa 
tion  has  been  in  operation  for  only  about  six  weeks,  the 
money  has  flowed  in  ;  and  eome  in  not  from  the  Eldo 
rado  Mines  of  the  millionaire,  but,  with  few  exceptions, 
from  the  limited  source  of  one  dollar  subscriptions. 

We  see  from  the  minutes  of  the  different  meetings 
that  money  continued  to  come  in  from  all  sides  and 
from  all  conditions  of  men.  The  Districts  send  in  their 
collections ;  Carolina  AYomen  residing  out  of  the  State 
send  their  contributions;  Grand  Juries  through  their 
foremen,  tender  their  offerings;  the  most  gifted  con 
cert  singers  of  the  city  lend  their  services;  Young 
Ladies'  Schools,  Military  Institutes,  the  South  Carolina 
College  itself,  catch  the  enthusiasm  and  respond.  In 
fact  the  entire  State  is  aroused,  and  a  number  of  Socie 
ties  as  well  as  the  Press  come  forward  with  commenda 
tion  and  still  more  substantial  aid.  In  addition,  a 
Tennessee  delegation,  in  attendance  here  upon  a  Com 
mercial  Convention,  step  forward  and  help  on  the 
Association. 

At  the  meeting  held  March  7th,  1855,  reports  were 
handed  in  of  large  sums  that  had  been  received.  From 
the  Meagher  Guards  the  proceeds  of  the  lecture  of  Gen. 
T.  F.  Meagher,  and  from  the  Misses  Sloman  the  pro 
ceeds  of  their  concert,  also  contributions  from  parties 
in  Montgomery,  Ala.,  and  in  Columbus,  Ga.  At  this 
meeting  the  following  new  officers  were  elected :  Mrs. 
George  Robertson,  President;  Mrs.  John  Fludd,  Mrs. 
Henry  Conner,  Mrs.  Henry  Gray  and  Mrs.  Henry  Wig- 
fall,  Yice-Presidents ;  Miss  Laura  S.  Porter  and  Miss  M. 
Blamyer,  Corresponding  Secretaries ;  Miss  Maria  Chees- 
borough,  Recording  Secretary ;  and  Miss  M.  A.  Yates 
Treasurer.  It  was  resolved  the  ladies  should  present 


the  Misses  Sloman  a  testimonial  of  gratitude  for  ser 
vices  rendered  the  Association ;  and  that  a  copy  of  Cal- 
houn's  Works  be  presented  as  a  testimonial  of  gratitude 
to  Gen.  T.  F.  Meagher,  for  his  generous  offices. 

The  ladies  wishing  to  keep  constantly  in  remem 
brance  Mr.  Calhoun's  birth-day,  settled  upon  the  18th 
March  as  the  anniversary  day  of  the  Association.  Upon 
their  convocation  at  the  first  anniversary,  the  Treasurer 
reported  that  over  $8,500  had  been  collected.  The 
Theatre  Association,  under  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  G.W. 
Brown,  assisted  the  ladies  by  contributing  largely  from 
their  receipts.  A  letter  was  received  from  a  friend  in 
Rhode  Island  containing  a  fraternal  and  liberal  contri 
bution.  Floral  fairs  were  got  up  by  the  ladies,  and  the 
Charleston  Gas  Company  showed  their  sympathy  for  the 
good  work  by  remitting  their  bills.  Ere  the  second 
anniversary  the  Association  had  over  $16,000,  securely 
invested  in  City  coupon  bonds  and  City  six  per  cent, 
stock,  as  well  as  South  Carolina  Railroad  seven  per 
cent,  bonds,  and  shares  in  Bank  of  Charleston.  By  the 
hands  of  Mr.  H.  W.  Conner,  the  old  stockholders  of  the 
Charleston  Hotel  Company  made  a  liberal  donation  in 
stock  to  the  Association.  The  ladies  doubled  their 
efforts  to  enlarge  their  funds,  and  they  canvassed 
unceasingly  in  all  directions.  Mr.  Petit  presented  the 
Association  with  a  musical  composition  of  his  own, 
which  netted  a  neat  little  sum. 

About  this  time,  September,  1855,  through  their 
President,  the  late  General  Wilmot  G.  DeSaussure,  the 
u  Gentlemen's  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  Fire 
and  Military  Departments,  "  made  a  proposition  to  the 
"  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association"  to  unite 
with  them  and  u  endeavor  to  lay  the  foundation  of 


8 


the  Calhoun  Monument,  at  as  early  a  date  as  practica 
ble,  "  but  the  ladies  after  several  months  of  reflection 
decided  "they  would  not  give  the  proceeds  of  their 
exertions  to  the  Gentlemen's  Association,  but  that  they 
would  continue  their  efforts  until  a  sufficient  sum  was 
raised  to  justify  their  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Cal 
houn  Monument."  A  year  before,  the  same  Gentle 
men's  Association,  through  a  letter  from  the  then 
acting  president,  R.  M.  Bacot,  Esq.,  enquired  of  the 
Ladies'  Association  what  sum  the  ladies  intended  to 
contribute  towards  the  erection  of  the  monument.  The 
ladies  replied  they  would  give  $500  towards  laying  the 
corner  stone  if  the  gentlemen  would  raise  as  much  for 
the  same  purpose.  There  the  matter  rested  until  the 
letter  from  Gen.  DeSaussure.  In  June  of  1856,  the 
Gentlemen's  Association  and  the  Fire  and  Military 
Departments  for  the  third  time  approached  the  Ladies1 
Association.  Its  president,  F.  Y.  Porcher,  Esq.,  wrote 
to  the  said  Ladies'  Association  that  a  committee  of  gen 
tlemen  had  been  appointed  to  confer  with  them  uin 
reference  to  all  matters  connected  with  the  erection  of 
the  monument,1'  and  that  they  had  "abandoned  the 
project  of  erecting  a  monument  after  the  plan  they  had 
already  adopted."  But  the  Ladies'  Association  invited 
to  act  as  a  committee  in  their  behalf  the  following  gen 
tlemen:  Messrs.  Henry  Gourdin,  H.  W.  Conner,  Win. 
D.  Porter,  W.  J.  Bennett,  Wm.  P.  Miles,  P.  C.  Gaillard, 
R.  Lucas,  Geo.  Robertson,  Richard  Yeadon,  Edward 
Manigault,  Francis  Cart,  John  L.  No  well,  G.  H.  Ingra- 
ham,  and  Gen.  W.  E.  Martin.  These  gentlemen,  as  the 
minute  book  reports,  the  ladies  chose  unot  only  for 
their  public  spirit,  but  also  for  their  correct  judgment 
and  energy. "  The  summer  meeting,  however,  being  too 


sparsely  attended,  matters  of  importance  were  not  acted 
upon  by  the  ladies  and  nothing  was  done  on  that  special 
question. 

It  seems  that  previous  to  1853  an  association  of  the 
Fire  arid  Military  Departments  was  organized  to  raise 
a  monument  to  the  great  Carolinian,  and  that  it  pro 
gressed  with  sufficient  success  to  justify  its  obtaining  a 
charter,  but  this  association  was  finally  absorbed  by 
that  of  the  ladies,  and  all  of  its  funds  turned  over  to 
them  ;  although  when  the  ladies'  appeal  to  the  daughters 
of  South  Carolina  first  appeared  they  were  warned  uthat 
they  were  trespassing  upon  the  sphere  of  the  other  sex, 
and  that  ridicule  would  be  their  only  reward." 

At  the  meeting  held  December  6th,  1856,  the  wel 
come  news  came  from  the  Hon.  Win.  D.  Porter  "that 
the  Legislature  had  granted  a  charter  of  the  Ladies' 
Calhoun  Monument  Association,  having  withdrawn  the 
three  months  notice  required  by  resolution  in  such 
cases."  The  ladies  now  felt  they  were  strong  in  some 
thing  more  than  a  mere  local  habitation  and  a  name— 
a  corporate  body !  one  that  must  have  rules !  and  that 
its  funds  and  securities  must  be  transferred  to  its  corpo 
rate  name. 

In  that  meeting  it  was  resolved  that  a  letter  be  ad 
dressed  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  chosen  by 
the  ladies  as  above  stated,  requesting  him  to  summon 
his  Committee,  and  make  regulations  for  the  laying  of 
the  corner  stone  as  soon  as  practicable.  It  was  further 
resolved  that  a  letter  be  addressed  to  the  Hon.  Law 
rence  M.  Keitt,  inviting  him  to  be  present  and  deliver 
an  oration  on  that  occasion. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  Association  continued 
to  improve ;  and  among  the  Association's  patrons  were 


10 


Gen.  James  Gadsden,  the  Hon.  Win.  Aiken,  Mrs.  Ben 
nett,  Prof.  Rivers,  Mr.  B.  Alston,  Mr.  Win.  DuBose, 
Wm.  B.  Dorn,  Esq.,  of  Edgefield,  Dr.  Gibbes  Elliott, 
and  the  Masons. 

In  June,  1858,  Mr.  Henry  Gourdin,  Chairman  of  the 
Gentlemen's  Committee,  reported  that  at  their  last  meet 
ing  it  was  resolved  u  as  the  opinion  of  the  Committee 
that  the  funds  now  in  possession  of  the  two  Associa 
tions  warrant  the  commencement  of  the  work  as  soon 
as  the  preliminary  arrangements  can  be  made  to  do  so, 
and  that  the  Association  may  safely  undertake  the  con 
struction  of  a  monument  to  cost  the  sum  of  fifty  thous 
and  dollars." 

During  this  same  year  the  ladies  were  called  to  mourn 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Esther  Monk.  After  fitting  remarks 
upon  the  services,  energy  and  devotion  on  the  part  of 
the  deceased  in  behalf  of  the  cherished  undertaking,  it 
was 

Resolved,  That  in  token  of  our  respect  for  the  memory  of  our 
first  President,  we  do  hereby  direct  that  a  page  in  our  Kecord 
Book  be  devoted  to  her  memory,  and  the  Secretary  do  insert 
upon  the  Minutes  of  the  Association  this  brief  memorial  of  our 
sorrow: 

IN  MEMORY 

OF 
MRS.   ESTHER  MONK, 

First  President  of  the  Ladies'    Oalhoun  Monument 
Association. 

On  the  28th  June,  1858,  chosen  because  it  was  the 
anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Fort  Moultrie — a  day  par 
ticularly  dear  and  sacred  to  the  heart  of  each  and  every 


11 


Carolinian — the  corner  stone  of  the  monument  was  laid 
on  the  Citadel  Square.  The  ceremonies  were  performed 
in  the  presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  people.  Under 
the  command  of  the  late  Gen.  Wm.  E.  Martin  there  was 
formed  on  the  Battery  a  procession  comprising  the  Mili 
tary,  the  Masons  and  other  civic  societies,  as  well  as  the 
ladies  of  the  Association  in  carriages.  It  repaired  in 
state  to  the  spot  chosen  as  the  location  where  the  stone 
should  be  laid.  Prayer  having  been  offered  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Bachman,  the  Masons,  with  ceremonies  peculiar  to 
their  order,  conducted  by  M.  W.  Grand  Master  Henry 
Buist,  placed  the  corner  stone.  It  is  a  free-stone  block 
two  feet  eight  inches  wide  and  one  foot  two  inches  deep, 
and  thus  inscribed: 

THIS  CORNER  STONE 

OF   THE 

CALHOLJN     MONUMENT, 

LAID  BY  HENRY  BUIST, 

•M.  W.  Grand  Master  of  Grand  Lo<l<je,  A.  F.  M.  of  S.  C. 
June  28th,  A.  L.  5858. 

In  its  cavity  were  deposited  the  following  articles: 

A  cannon  ball  which  had  been  recovered  from  the 
harbour,  and  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  used  in  the 
battle  of  Fort  Moultrie.  Presented  by  James  M.  Eason. 

A  case  containing  a  banner  that  had  been  carried  by 
the  Seamen  in  the  funeral  procession  in  honor  of  Cal- 
houn,  with  the  motto:  u  The  children  of  old  ocean 
mourn  him."  Presented  by  the  Rev.  Wm.  B.  Yates. 

One  hundred  dollars  in  Continental  money ;  a  lock 


12 


of  Mr.  Calhoun's  hair,  in  a  small  case,  presented  by  an 
officer  and  active  member  of  the  Ladies'  Association. 

Lists  containing  names  of  the  different  Cabinets  of  the 
General  Government  from  the  inauguration  of  Washing 
ton  ;  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina ;  Mayor 
of  the  City  of  Charleston ;  Officers  of  the  Ladies'  Cal- 
houn  Monument  Association;  Committee  of  Arrange 
ments,  Marshals,  Orator,  Officers  of  the  M.  W.  Grand 
Lodge  A.  F.  M.  of  South  Carolina,  and  Proceedings  of 
the  last  session  of  the  Board  of  Firemasters,  Fire  Engine 
Companies  with  date  of  charter  and  number  of  mem 
bers  ;  Board  of  Field  Officers  Fourth  Brigade  ;  Officers 
of  the  Calhoun  Monument  Association  of  the  Firemen 
and  Military ;  an  historical  sketch  of  the  rise  and  pro 
gress  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association ; 
the  last  speech  of  John  C.  Calhoun  delivered  in  the 
United  States  Senate  on  4th  March,  1850. 

When  the  Grand  Chaplain  of  the  Masons  had  closed 
the  masonic  ceremonies  with  prayer,  and  the  Grand 
Master,  the  Hon.  Henry  Buist,  had  delivered  a  few  re 
marks,  the  Hon.  Lawrence  M.  Keitt  arose  and  held  the 
close  attention  of  the  masses,  assembled  to  do  honour 
to  the  occasion,  by  his  eloquent  oratory  and  his  clear 
exposition  of  the  character  and  of  the  life-work  of  Mr. 
Calhoun.  The  magnetic  orator  did  justice  to  his  sub 
ject  and  he  truly  suggested  Mr.  Calhoun's  was  not  a 
borrowed  light,  but  one  that  respired  with  his  very 
breath,  and  was  fed  with  the  essence  of  his  soul.  We 
may  add  that  even  the  immortal  Goethe,  whose  last 
prayer  was  for  "light,  more  light,"  could  have  illumed 
his  lamp  from  this  sun  of  deep  insight  into,  and 
broad  moral  observations  upon,  all  human  action. 

And  here  closed  the  first  chapter  of  that  much  cher- 


13 


ished  work  undertaken  by  the  women  of  Carolina. 
They  were  now  forced  to  turn  their  attention  from  ren 
dering  honours  to  the  dead  to  administering  to  the 
living ;  to  staying  the  blood  that  gushed  from  many  a 
wound ;  to  alleviating  the  pangs  of  hunger,  and  giving 
the  drop  of  cool  water  to  stay  the  tortures  of  thirst; 
to  smoothing  the  pillows  of  thousands  who  could 
murmur,  unow  I  rest  more  easy;"  to  cheering  on  and 
inspiring  fortitude  in  the  hearts  of  an  army  of  heroic 
souls,  possessed  of  the  conviction  of  the  right,  and  bat 
tling  for  a  cause.  In  one  of  the  short  meetings  held 
just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  between  the 
States,  these  women 

Resolved,  "  That  it  is  the  wish  of  this  Association,  that  the 
Oalhoun  Monument  shall  be  the  first  public  work  carried  on 
after  the  restoration  of  Peace,  as  a  just  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  our  Political  Father,  John  C.  Calhoun." 

The  struggle  came;  and  during  that  four  years  of 
bloody  strife  and  destruction  of  property,  of  course  the 
work  of  the  Association  was  all  but  suspended. 
Though  no  new  contributions  came  in,  the  entire  fund 
heretofore  collected,  excepting  some  few  investments 
made  in  Confederate  securities,  was  saved  to  the  Associa 
tion  by  the  heroic  conduct  and  self-sacrifice  of  its  noble, 
courageous  and  large-hearted  Treasurer,  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Snowden,  to  whom  we  have  already  referred  as  the 
energetic  Amarintha  Yates.  Like  the  great  Roth- 
child,  the  founder  of  that  family  illustrious  in  the  de 
partments  of  finance,  and  whom  his  king  raised  to  the 
exalted  position  of  a  nobleman  of  the  realm  for  his  hav 
ing  faithfully  preserved,  while  losing  his  own  private 
fortune,  the  public  funds  intrusted  to  his  keeping,  she, 


14 


loosing  her  own  property,  preserved  that  of  the  Asso 
ciation.  During  those  days  and  nights  when  the  pall  of 
despair  wrapped  every  heart  and  the  blood  ceased  from 
its  fevered  course  to  stagnate  at  the  fell  deeds  that 
flourished  in  the  mart,  and  when  Sherman's  torch  made 
Columbia  a  beacon  that  lighted  us  to  the  skies,  this 
woman  of  South  Carolina  carried  the  securities  of  the 
Association,  stitched  in  the  folds  of  her  dress, — sublime 
in  her  forgetfulness  as  to  her  own  losses  and  in  her 
holding  inviolate  her  sacred  trust ! 

Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden  was  assisted  by  her  sister,  Mrs. 
I.  S.  Snowden  in  her  occupation  of  quilting  the  bonds 
in  her  skirt.  At  the  dead  of  night,  by  the  imperfect 
light  of  a  lamp,  these  two  ladies,  with  trembling  and 
flying  fingers,  plied  their  task,  observed,  as  they 
thought,  only  by  the  eye  of  God,  under  the  spell  of 
whose  countenance  they  had  addressed  themselves  to 
their  work.  Think  of  their  astonishment,  yet  agreeable 
surprise  and  satisfaction  when  some  time  after,  and  the 
bonds  were  out  of  danger,  they  were  told  by  their 
mother's  maid,  a  negro  slave,  that  she  was  delighted 
the  soldiers  did  not  get  the  things  sewed  up  in  the  gar 
ment.  It  seems,  she,  from  her  position  in  the  piazza, 
had  witnessed,  by  peeping  through  the  Venetians,  the 
whole  performance  of  the  two  ladies.  The  faithful  crea 
ture,  acting  upon  her  own  high  instincts  of  honesty,  kept 
the  secret.  To  this  incorruptible,  though  unlettered 
daughter  of  African  descent,  all  honour  is  due,  for  hon 
esty,  though  not  an  object  of  reward,  is  a  thing  to  be 
especially  honoured,  when  the  very  air  is  putrid  with 
the  dishonesty  of  those  who  claim  to  be  high  up,  not 
only  in  the  scale  of  learning,  but  of  gently-dealing  and 
humane-teaching  civilization— yea,  of  those  whose  offi- 


15 


cial  position  placed  them  in  the  front  ranks  of  that 
highest  and  mightiest  of  races,  which  calls  itself  the 
Caucasian. 

The  civil  struggle  ceased.  A  new  dynasty  at  the 
head  of  affairs,  new  forces  and  circumstances  impelling 
the  wheel  of  fortune,  the  women  of  Carolina  had  to 
give  up  their  nurtured  hope  and  resolve  of  making  the 
monument  to  their  hero,  now  more  sacred  than  ever, 
their  first  duty,  and  had  to  turn  their  energies  to  facing 
and  effectually  meeting  the  stern  lots  necessity  cast 
upon  them.  In  this  they  triumphed,  and,  could  it  be 
possible,  they  arose  out  of  their  troubles  calmer, 
stronger  and  more  beautiful  ;  -  -  purified  priestesses 
around  the  altar  of  home. 

When,  in  1871,  the  Association  began  again  its  regu 
lar  meetings,  Mrs.  Conner  reported  that  the  Treasurer's 
books  had  been  examined  and  found  correct.  The 
ladies  agreed  to  place  in  the  hands  of  Col.  P.  C.  Gail- 
lard,  one  of  their  long  and  zealous  co-workers,  all  the 
records  of  the  Association,  so  as  to  enable  him  to  make 
a  full  statement  of  its  affairs.  This  statement  he  made 
to  the  fullest  satisfaction  and  handed  it  in,  January, 
1874.  In  his  report  he'  remarked:  u  In  the  history  of 
the  Association  there  occurs  three  distinct  periods,  effect 
ing  its  interests  so  materially,  that  there  is  almost  a 
necessity,  in  giving  a  full  statement,  to  deal  with  each 
separately."  The  first  period,  from  March,  1854,  to 
March,  1861,  was  the  period  of  increase  of  funds  by 
donations,  collections  and  subscriptions.  The  second 
period,  from  March,  1861,  to  March,  1866,  was  the 
period  when  Confederate  Currency  circulated  and  in 
vestments  were  made  in  Confederate  securities.  The 
third  period  was  from  March,  1866,  to  January,  1874. 


16 


In  the  first  period  the  actual  amount  received  from  all 
sources  amounted  to  $35,509.63,  which  being  invested, 
it  was  found  at  the  close  of  the  period  the  stocks  and 
securities  amounted  to  $39,610.  As  in  the  second 
period  all  investments  were  in  Confederate  securities 
they  amounted  to  nothing,  so  were  not  reported.  But 
in  the  third  period,  the  various  municipalities  and  cor 
porations  within  the  State,  having  been  restored  to  their 
former  rights  and  privileges,  provisions  were  made  by 
most  of  them  to  meet  the  arrears  of  interest  due  to  their 
securities. 

Few  expenses  were  incurred  by  the  Association  be 
yond  taxes  and  the  $100  paid  after  the  war  for  the  re 
moval  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  remains  back  to  their  original 
resting  place  in  the  western  division  of  St.  Philip's 
churchyard.  The  par  value  of  the  securities  was,  on  : 

March  12th,  1861 $39,610  00 

Securities  received  since  Jan'y,  1866,  par  value. .  24,295  52 
Par  value  of  all  securities  held  at  Jan'y  1st,  1874,  64,504  12 
Estimated  market  value  of  the  same 27,920  10 

The  amount  on  hand  had  been  derived  from  the  fol 
lowing  sources  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  war : 

Fairs  in  the  City  of  Charleston $11,071  81 

Concerts  in  the  City  of  Charleston 2,195  31 

Lectures  in  the  City  of  Charleston 563  00 

Legacies  from  residents  of  the  City  of  Charleston  600  00 

Collections  and  donations  in  the  City 5,709  00 

Charleston  District 578  25 

All  the  other  Districts  of  South  Carolina 3,737  54 

From  persons,  residence  unknown 66  30 

Donations  from  State  Senators 102  00 

Donations  from  Prof.  Rivers   1,000  00 

Donations  from  other  States 491  50 

Interests  and  dividends 9,399  92 


Total $35,514  63 


17 


The  receipts  since  January  1st,  18  ft 6,  have  been  de 
rived  from  interests  only,  except  a  small  amount,  say 
$19.00,  received  from  the  Savings  Bank  at  its  winding 
up  in  1869. 

Thus  we  see  that  after  the  suspension  of  hostilities 
it  was  found  that  such  was  the  nature  of  the  invest 
ments  that  scarcely  one  was  without  value.  The  Asso 
ciation  was  now  fully  re-organized  and  again  upon  its 
feet.  And  now  the  time  had  come  to  discuss  a  question, 
not  forseen  at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the 
Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  in  1854,  but 
which  was  of  vital  importance,  and  second  only  to  that 
of  the  creation  of  the  Society  itself.  Being  keenly 
alive  in  their  wisdom  to  the  vast  importance  of  educa 
tion,  having  from  their  wide  and  deep  experience, 
gained  in  the  late  conflict,  seen  the  force  and  power  of 
mental  culture,  knowing  as  they  did,  that  their  country 
was  utterly  prostrate,  and  that  her  sources  of  wealth 
were  all  choked  up  and  had  in  many  respects  entirely 
disappeared;  and,  realizing  only  too  well  that  the 
means  could  not  be  procured  to  give  even  a  primary 
and  practical  education  to  thousands  of  her  war-caused 
illiterate  young  men  and  women,  as  well  as  their  children ; 
many  of  the  noble-hearted  women  managing  the  affairs 
of  the  Association  conceived  the  idea  and  made  the 
proposition,  which  met  with  favour  in  many  quarters, 
that  the  fund  raised  to  build  a  monument  to  the  mem 
ory  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  in,  or  near  Charleston,  be  ap 
propriated  to  the  use  of  establishing  a  John  C.  Calhoun 
educational  fund,  by  means  of  which  the  boys  and  girls 
of  South  Carolina  could  be  given  those  privileges  of 
learning  enjoyed  by  their  forefathers,  and  for  which  not 
only  a  universal  civilization,  but  necessity  itself  calls 


18 


aloud.  They  sincerely  believed  such  would  have  been 
the  wishes  and  views  of  Mr  Calhoun  himself;  and  they 
were  careful  to  get  the  opinion  on  the  subject  of  most  of 
the  absent  directresses — and  that  opinion  was  favour 
able  to  the  change.  The  daughter  of  our  illustrious 
citizen  showed  her  feelings  on  the  point  discussed  when 
she  said  that  while  she  could  not  permit  the  use  of  her 
name  as  advocating  the  donation  of  the  monumental 
fund  to  the  Confederate  Home  in  the  manner  indicated, 
"yet,"  she  says  in  her  letter,  "  I  too  feel  deeply  on  this 
subject,  and  am  most  desirous  of  seeing  the  monu 
mental  fund  devoted  to  that  (educational)  purpose,  as 
the  noblest  memento  to  my  dear  father's  memory, 
knowing  as  I  do,  his  true  modesty,  his  devotion  to  the 
State,  and  his  high  estimation  of  the  necessity  of  educa 
tion.  I  am  sure  such  a  monument  would  be  the  one  he 
would  choose  above  all  others,  and  I  agree  with  you, 
(Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden,)  that  to  erect  a  monument  of 
stone  or  bronze,  in  the  present  state  of  our  affairs,  to 
any  man,  would  be  more  to  our  shame  than  his  honour." 
To  divert  the  fund  to  even  so  laudable  a  purpose  was 
too  grave  a  responsibility  to  be  assumed  by  the  small 
number  of  subscribers  that  could  have  been  brought 
together.  Many  of  the  original  ones,  and,  among  them, 
same  of  the  largest  contributors,  were  dead  or  removed 
from  the  State,  and  inaccessable,  so  under  the  circum 
stances  the  Association  solicited  from  the  Hon.  Henry 
Gourdin,  Col.  I.  W.  Hayne,  Gen.  Jas.  Conner,  Gen.  W. 
G.  DeSaussure,  Hon.  W.  D.  Porter  and  W.  J.  Bennett, 
Esq.,  advice  upon  the  subject.  These  gentlemen  had 
been  ever  the  warmest  of  friends  to  the  Association. 
But,  as  these  gentlemen,  "failed  to  come  to  any  agree 
ment  as  to  the  legality  of  the  change,"  they  suggested 


19 


that  the  ladies  consult  the  three  surviving  Chancellors 
of  the  old  Carolina  Bench :  Chief  Justice  Dunkin  and 
Chancellors  Lesesne  and  Carroll ;  and,  further,  that  the 
ladies  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  majority.  The  ladies 
unanimously  agreed  to  the  suggestion.  Having  ac 
cepted  the  request  and  weighed  the  proposition,  the 
Chancellors  replied : 

"Having  given  our  best  consideration  to  the  question,  and  to 
the  views  of  counsel  on  either  side,  with  which  we  have  been 
favoured,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  Association  cannot  law 
fully  apply  the  funds  in  their  hands  to  the  purchase  of  "grounds 
or  an  edifice  or  building,  to  be  known  as  the  Calhoun  Monu 
ment  Institute,  to  be  applied  to  educational  purposes,"  such  not 
being  in  our  judgment  the  sort  of  monument  intended  by  the 
word  as  used  in  their  Constitution. 

"We  are  also  of  the  opinion  that  the  temporary  investment  of 
the  funds  in  the  purchase  of  such  grounds  and  buildings  to  be 
used  as  above  stated,  until  a  suitable  time  may  arrive  for  erect 
ing  a  monument  of  the  kind  contemplated  in  the  Constitution, 
is  not  such  an  investment  of  trust  funds  as  a  Court  of  Equity 
would  authorize  or  sanction. 

[Signed,]  BENJ.  F.  DUNKIN. 

HENRY  D.  LESESNE." 

A  resolution  offered  by  Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden  and 
passed,  stated  that  as  the  above  educational  question 
had  been  referred  to  the  three  living  Chancellors  of 
South  Carolina,  and  u whereas  the  majority  of  the  Chan 
cellors  has  given  a  decision  advising  against  the  measure: 
Therefore,  Be  it  resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Direc 
tresses  while  deeply  regretting  that  their  proposed  plan 
is  considered  inadvisable,  a  plan  which  contemplated 
the  entire  preservation  of  the  fund  and  which,  if  carried 
into  effect  would,  in  their  view,  have  proved  the  best 
and  noblest  monument  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  still  yield  to  the 


20 


opinion  of  their  friends  and  advisers  and  will  hold  the 
fund  until  a  more  fitting  day  arrives  for  the  consumma 
tion  of  the  original  plan."  Thus  ended  the  most  im 
portant  question  considered  since  the  foundation  of  the 
Association. 

At  the  anniversary  meeting  held  18th  of  March, 
1874,  the  venerable  President  offered  a  resolution  to 
the  effect  that  the  Association  owed  a  vote  of  thanks  to 
its  Treasurer  for  u  her  zealous  and  scrupulous  care  and 
great  success  in  the  arrangement  and  preservation  of 
its  funds  through  the  many  years  past,  especially  in 
those  during  and  immediately  succeeding  the  war,  when 
its  utter  destruction  was  frequently  threatened  and 
feared.'1  Unanimously  passed. 

Immediately  after  said  meeting  the  following  officers 
were  elected :  Mrs.  George  Robertson,  President ;  Mrs. 
H.  W.  Conner  and  Mrs.  Henry  Wigfall, Vice-Presidents; 
Mrs.  Joseph  Blackman,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Miss 
S.  B.  Hayne,  Recording  Secretary ;  Mrs.  M.  A.  Snow- 
den,  Treasurer. 

The  ladies  having  the  best  advice  as  to  the  repeated 
investments  of  the  interest  on  their  fund,  had  the  leisure 
to  actively  discuss  the  question  of  a  model  for  the  monu 
ment.  This  question,  of  course,  had  been  talked  about 
for  a  long  time,  and  as  early  as  1856,  communications  had 
been  received  from  Jones  and  Lee,  as  well  as  Edward 
B.  White,  Esq.,  relative  to  designs  they  had  prepared 
for  the  Calhoun  Temple  or  Monument.  We  notice  in 
the  Minutes  of  the  first  Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  As 
sociation  for  the  year  1859,  mention  is  made  of  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Henry  Gourdin,  Chairman  of  the  Ladies'  Ad 
visory  Committee,  stating  that  at  a  previous  meeting  of 
the  Committee  it  was  resolved  to  advise  the  ladies  to 


21 


adopt,  as  a  Calhoun  Monument,  "a  colossal  bronze 
statue  of  Mr.  Calhoun  standing  on  a  base  of  South  Car 
olina  granite."  At  the  same  time  a  design  for  such 
monument  was  submitted  for  the  ladies'  inspection. 

At  a  meeting  in  1876  we  find  the  ladies  concurring 
in  the  idea  of  having  it  a  bronze  figure  on  a  native  gran 
ite  base  and  pillar ;  the  statue  to  be  on  the  model  of 
that  executed  in  marble  for  the  City  of  Charleston  by 
Powers.  To  aid  them  in  carrying  out  their  plan  a  com 
mittee  of  thirteen  gentlemen  were  forthwith  nominated 
and  elected.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  elected  were  the 
same  the  ladies  had  chosen,  for  the  same  purpose, 
twenty  years  before,  in  1856,  previous  to  the  civil  strife. 
The  names  of  the  thirteen  were  as  follows :  Mr.  Henry 
Gourrlin,  Chancellor  Henry  Lesesne,  Hon.  W.  D.  Por 
ter,  Col.  Edward  McCrady,  Jr.,  Gen.  Conner,  Col.  P.  C. 
Gaillard,  Col.  S.  B.  Pickens,  Col.  Henry  E.  Young, 
Messrs.  Isaac  Hayne,  C.  II.  Miles,  R.  Siegling,  Kirkwood 
King  and  Louis  D.  DeSaussure.  By  choice  of  the 
Association  Col.  Henry  E.  Young  was  made  chairman. 

A  year  later  we  find  the  same  discussion  going  on,  and 
the  ladies,  after  again  deciding  that  the  site  for  the 
monument  be  the  Citadel  Green,  announce,  'the  mon 
ument  will  consist  of  a  life-size  statue  of  Calhoun  in  his 
usual  dress,  draped  with  a  cloak  and  resting  on  a  pal 
metto  tree,  and  holding  in  his  hand  a  scroll  represent 
ing  "  Truth,  Justice,  and  the  Constitution";  the  other 
minutiae  of  the  monument  to  be  left  to  the  u  artist  who 
may  obtain  the  contract  for  the  work.'1  In  March,  1878, 
Col.  Henry  E.  Young  submitted,  in  behalf  of  the 
committee  of  gentlemen,  several  plans  for  the  monu 
ment,  but  no  definite  action  was  taken  just  then.  Col. 
Young  also  handed  in  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Kirkwood 
King.  Mr.  S.  Prioleau  Ravenel  succeeded  to  his  place. 


22 


In  March,  1879,  at  an  especial  meeting  it  was  deter 
mined  upon  to  request  the  committee  of  gentlemen  to 
select  a  European  artist  to  furnish  designs  for  the  mon 
ument,  including  the  pedestal.  It  was  forthwith  re 
solved  that  notices  be  put  in  the  art  journals  of  the 
United  States,  England,  Rome,  Florence  and  Berlin,  in 
viting  artists  to  present  designs  for  the  monument  and 
referring  them  to  some  well-known  banking  houses  for 
reference.  The  committee  of  thirteen  gentlemen  gave 
the  matter  the  closest  attention,  and  they  corresponded 
with  and  about,  and  also  held  in  consideration,  such 
men  as  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  of  New  York ;  John  Bell,  one 
of  the  foremost  British  sculptors ;  Carl  Echtenmeyer, 
an  eminent  sculptor  and  artist,  of  Dresden,  Germany; 
Valentine,  of  Virginia,  also  Eziekel,  of  that  State ; 
Rogers  and  Ives,  Ware  and  Van  Brunt,  of  Boston ; 
Simmons  and  Harnisch,  of  Philadelphia.  The  committee 
knew  from  experience  that  great  artists  will  not  consent 
to  enter  into  contests  and  compete  with  each  other, 
hence  it  was  put  upon  its  inquiry  and  research,  and  after 
careful  discussion  and  reflection,  it  decided  to  recom 
mend  to  the  Association  Mr.  A .  E.  Harnisch  as  the  sculp 
tor  most  suited  to  execute  the  statue  and  design  the 
base.  Among  those  who  bear  strong  testimony  as  to 
this  sculptor's  merits  and  character  are  Mr.  Richard 
Vaux,  as  seen  in  his  letter  to  the  Hon.  Samuel  Randall ; 
Mr.  How,  of  Boston ;  Mr.  Clement  Barclay,  as  also  Mr. 
John  Sartain,  the  eminent  artist  and  literateur ;  Clement 
and  Hutton ;  Miss  Brewster,  and  Mr.  W.  W.  Story,  the 
celebrated  sculptor,  as  quoted  in  letters  of  Mr.  How 
and  other  well-known  personages. 

In  June  of  the  same  year,  1879,  the  report  embody 
ing  the  choice  of  artists  was  handed  in  to  the  ladies  as 


23 


the  unanimous  recommendation  of  the  gentlemen  form 
ing  the  committee.  The  recommendation  was  approved 
and  the  committee  was  desired  to  begin  forthwith  a  cor 
respondence  with  Mr.  Harnisch.  Some  of  the  works  of 
Mr.  Harnisch  which  entitled  him  to  the  notice  of  the 
public  were  his  Cupid,  Love  in  Idleness,  Wandering 
Psyche,  Little  Protector,  Little  Hunter  and  Boy  in  the 
Eagles'  Nest;  the  last  of  which  the  Art  Commission  of 
Philadelphia  Park  with  one  accord  ordered  without  even 
having  seen  the  model.  At  the  time  he  was  recom 
mended  to  the  ladies  he  was  engaged  on  a  model  for 
the  proposed  equestrian  statue  of  Gen.  Lee  to  be  erected 
at  Richmond.  Another  point  in  his  favour  was  that  he 
was  a  native  artist.  In  discussing  with  a  talented  critic 
living  abroad  whether  it  would  be  best  to  employ  a  for 
eign  or  a  native  artist,  she  remarked  with  a  great  deal 
of  insight  and  truth  :  u  I  do  not  think  it  advisable  to 
employ  a  foreign  artist  for  such  a  monument  as  this  of 
Calhoun.  They  would  do  it  in  a  conventional  or  com 
mercial  way  without  any  interest  or  spirit.  The  subject 
would  not  materially  inspire  their  enthusiasm,  and  a 
Frenchman  makes  every  figure  French,  while  a  German 
makes  his  figures  German." 

Clement  and  Hutton  in  their  "  Artists  of  the  Nine 
teenth  Century  and  their  Works,'1  published  in  1879, 
speaking  of  Harnisch,  said :  his  statues  are  deemed  ex 
cellent,  usuch  as  only  a  sculptor  who  is  an  anatomist, 
can  model,"  and,  uhis  portrait  busts  are  especially  char 
acteristic  of  his  subjects  and  give  their  best  and  strong 
est  personalities."  It  was  further  urged  he  was  about 
thirty  years  of  age  and  u  on  the  sill  of  success  ;"  that  he 
was  "  realistic  in  the  best  sense  and  makes  real  indi 
vidual  and  not  conventional  lay  figures  as  is  too  often 


24 


seen."  His  uncle,  a  professor  of  sculpture  at  Berlin, 
came  to  America  and  u  directed  the  boy  in  the  right 
path;"  instructed  him  in  the  old  belief  of  sculpture 
with  broad  horizons;  and  influenced  him  to  aim  at  that 
well-balanced  effect  produced  in  the  whole  of  a  work 
by  broad  outlines  and  simple  form,  as  seen  in  the  speci 
mens  of  ancient  art.  In  his  native  city  of  Philadelphia 
he  studied  for  several  years  architecture  under  Collins 
and  Andenreed;  under  Struthers  he  learned  all  the 
mechanical  detail  of  stone  work,  and  in  the  Philadel 
phia  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  he  was  a  pupil  under  Joseph 
Bailey.  At  the  Roman  University  he  studied  in  the 
dissecting  room  until  he  could  construct  the  human 
form  from  memory,  and  the  collection  of  ancient  sculp 
ture  in  the  Roman  galleries,  remarks  one  of  his  critics, 
were  to  him  as  large  libraries  to  a  scholar  and  writer. 
He  had  already  sent  designs  to  the  Association,  and  at 
the  very  meeting  when  his  name  was  proposed  and  ac 
cepted  the  committee  of  gentlemen  advised  that  the 
base  of  the  monument  be  of  native  granite,  according 
to  the  designs  sent,  and  that  it  be  executed  here,  if  pos 
sible.  The  bronze  figure  of  Calhoun  to  surmount  the 
base  they  recommended  to  be  of  heroic  size,  in  the  cos 
tume  of  Calhoun's  day  and  with  the  cloak  he  usually 
wore.  The  general  plan  of  the  whole  to  be  something 
like  the  statue  of  Count  Cavour  at  Milan.  The  head  to 
be  that  from  Powers's  statue,  when  the  statesman  was  in 
the  full  vigour  of  both  mind  and  body.  The  scroll 
u  Truth,  Justice,  and  the  Constitution"  and  the  palmetto 
tree  to  be  appropriately  introduced  by  the  artist. 

In  March,  1880,  Mr.  Robert  N.  Gourdin  took  the  place 
of  his  deceased  brother,  Mr.  Henry  Gourdin,  on  the 
Gentlemen's  Advisory  Committee ;  and  Mr.  George 


25 


Irigraham  was  elected  by  the  ladies  a  member  of  the 
same. 

A  model  arrived  from  Mr.  Harnisch  in  June,  1880. 
Col.  Young  reported  in  behalf  of  the  committee  that 
the  model,  as  a  whole  met  with  their  unanimous  ap 
proval,  and  that  "the  statue  itself  seems  to  them  re 
markable  for  its  ease,  life  and  grace."  The  artist  wrote 
from  Rome  in  the  preceeding  March:  "In  model  No. 
1,  I  gave  as  much  likeness  as  was  in  the  picture  sent  me. 
I  found  Mr.  Powers's  bust  of  little  or  no  use  ;  it  is  so  very 
morose  in  expression  ;  moreover  one  of  the  most  promi 
nent  characteristics  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  head — his  hair — is 
cut  short  in  said  bust.  Those  of  my  friends  who  knew  Mr. 
Calhoun,  give  me  credit  for  having  produced  his  promi 
nent  points  of  character.  When  I  model  the  large  statue, 
and  have  better  portraits  of  him  to  study  from,  I  shall 
be  able  to  make  a  stronger  likeness."  Again  he  writes 
in  April:  "The  long  hair  is  especially  effective  and 
ought  not  to  be  removed ;  it  is  an  artistic  feature  that 
should  be  expressed."  The  Committee  collected  as 
many  likenesses  of  Mr.  Calhoun  as  they  well  could. 
Mr.  V.  K.  Stevenson,  of  New  York,  gave  them  a  pho 
tographic  copy  of  Healey's  portrait  of  the  statesman ; 
Miss  Mathews  gave  one  of  Scarborough's  portrait,  and 
Mr.  Willis  a  copy  of  that  of  Harding.  These  likenesses 
were  sent  to  Mr.  Harnisch  with  instructions  to  use  them 
in  connection  with  head  of  Powers's  statue.  The  emi 
nence  of  Powers  being  so  universally  acknowledged,  it 
was  insisted  upon  still  that  Mr.  Harnisch  should  make 
use  of  the  Powers's  head.  The  portraits  by  Healey 
and  Scarborough  were  preferred,  as  they  represented 
Mr.  Calhoun  as  Senator,  while  Harding's  represented 
him  as  Secretary  of  War,  and  when  Senator  our  states- 


2G 


man  was  most  specially  endeared  to  this  State.  The 
Committee  reminded  the  ladies  that  they,  of  course, 
had  the  right  to  express  themselves  as  to  which  likeness 
they  preferred,  and  what  should  be  the  inscription  on 
the  pedestal,  but  the  statue  itself  was  the  work  of  Mr. 
Harnisch,  and  he  would  be  responsible  for  it.  The  ob 
jections  the  gentlemen  themselves  made  to  the  model 
sent,  they  made  subject  to  the  artist's  judgment.  One 
of  their  objections  was  :  l  That  the  palmetto  post  be 
hind  be  higher,  reaching  up  to  about  the  middle  of  the 
figure,  so  that  the  cloak,  resting  on  it,  would  fall  in 
folds,  and  lose  its  present  stiff  and  ungraceful  appear 
ance.  '  The  following  extract  from  a  letter,  dated  July, 
1880,  will  not  only  show  how  Mr.  Harnisch  meets  that 
objection,  but  how  carefully  he  was  studying  his  work, 
how  minutely  he  was  studying  the  mental  habits  and 
characteristics  of  his  subject,  so  as  to  be  able  to  make 
the  outer  form  and  its  accompaniments  a  true  exponent 
of  the  inner  man;  he  says  :  "Mr.  Calhoun  was  noted 
for  his  decided,  firm  and  unbending  nature.  He  was 
true  to  his  State,  he  indulged  in  no  rhetoric,  but  always 
went  straight  to  his  end  at  all  costs,  therefore,  the  break 
up  of  folds  at  the  back  and  all  accessories  to  his  own 
figure,  would  be  at  varience  with  the  portrait  character 
I  am  trying  to  represent.  The  drapery,  when  not  in- 
terferred  with  by  the  action  or  movement  of  the  body, 
should  fall  in  solid,  straight,  firm  lines,  otherwise  its 
effect  would  be  weakened  when  placed  on  high  against 
the  sky."  The  ladies,  in  objecting  to  the  same  model, 
expressed  themselves  as  "  not  pleased  with  the  hair  as 
represented;"  they  said,  further,  '  they  did  not  object 
to  the  citizen's  dress,  but  the  style  was  not  such  as  Mr. 
Calhoun  wore,  it  fitting  more  closely  than  was  consis- 


27 


tent  with  grace  and  ease.  As  they  had  fifty  thousand 
dollars  to  expend  on  the  monument,  they  hoped  for 
something  more  imposing  than  the  model  suggests.1 

On  the  5th  of  September,  1881,  the  ladies  offered  a 
fitting  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  H.  W.  Conner, 
very  recently  deceased.  She  was  an  original  member 
and  directress  of  the  Association,  and  at  the  time  of 
her  death,  a  Vice-President. 

In  March,  of  1882,  Mrs.  Dr.  DeSaussure  and  Mrs. 
Joseph  Walker  were  elected  Vice-Presidents^  and  Miss 
F.  E.  DeSaussure  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Although  as  early  as  March,  1881,  the  ladies  and 
their  Gentlemen  Committee  had  come  approximately  to 
a  decision  as  to  Mr.  Harnisch's  model,  and  although,  in 
the  meantime  the  artist  himself  had  come  to  Charleston, 
and  submitted  several  designs,  no  official  report  had 
been  made  upon  it  until  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
March  18th,  1882,  when  Col.  Young,  on  the  part  of 
the  Committee,  reported  the  following  :  "  That  the 
Committee  recommend  to  the  Association  the  accep 
tance  of  model  No.  1.,  modified  as  to  the  head,  to  con 
form  to  the  cast  which  Mr.  Harnish  had  obtained  in 
Charleston ;  and  as  to  the  other  details  which  may  be 
suggested  by  their  Committee  and  accepted  by  him.'' 
The  vote  was  taken  upon  this  resolution  and  carried, 
approving  and  endorsing  the  selection  of  model  No.  1, 
which  uis  hereby  chosen  with  certain  modifications/' 
The  contract  finally  made  with  Mr.  Harnisch  called  for 
a  bronze  statue  of  Calhoun  on  a  Carolina  granite  pedes 
tal,  and  surrounding  it  four  allegorical  figures,  repre 
senting  Truth,  Justice,  the  Constitution  and  History,  for 
the  sum  of  $44,000.  The  cast  of  Mr.  Calhoun  which 
Harnisch  had  obtained  in  Charleston  was  that  by 


28 


Mills,   and  given    the  artist  by  the  Hon.  William  D. 
Porter. 

In  a  meeting  held  April  1st,  of  1882,  the  action  of 
the  President  and  the  Recording  Secretary,  in  retaining 
Judge  Magrath,  Gen.  B.  H.  Rutledge  and  Major  Braw- 
ley  to  represent  the  Association  in  the  event  of  any 
legal  complications,  was  confirmed,  and  the  President 
and  Recording  Secretary  were  authorized  to  sign  and 
seal  the  contract  with  Mr.  A.  E.  Harnisch,  which  had 
been  submitted  for  the  approval  of  the  ladies. 

By  the  number  of  votes  from  the  Districts  entered 
on  the  Minute  Book  we  have  evidence  of  the  greatest 
public  confidence  in  the  Board  of  Directresses,  and,  in 
the  act  of  their  having  chosen  as  their  sculptor  Mr. 
Harnisch.  Mr.  Harnisch  having  fairly  begun  his  work 
and  being  altogether  absorbed  in  it,  the  ladies  watched 
its  progress  with  great  interest.  The  editor  of  the 
News  and  Courier,  of  Charleston,  having  written  in 
1883  a  private  letter  from  Rome,  wherein  he  mentioned 
that  he  frequently  visited  Harnisch's  studio,  and  was 
very  much  pleased  with  the  model  of  the  statue  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  he  saw  there,  and,  that  he  highly  approved  of 
the  selection  of  Mr.  Harnisch  as  sculptor  by  the  ladies 
of  the  Calhoun  Monument  Association ;  the  ladies  in 
vited  him,  upon  his  return  to  Charleston,  to  attend  their 
anniversary  meeting,  to  be  held  the  18th  of  March, 
1883,  and  make  some  remarks  on  the  subject  so  near  to 
their  hearts.  The  Minutes  of  that  meeting  report  his  re 
marks  as  follows :  "  Mr.  Dawson  spoke  at  some  length ; 
the  substance  of  his  remarks  being  that  he  was  most 
favourably  impressed  with  the  merit  and  earnestness  of 
Mr.  Harnisch.  He  feels  confident  that  he  will  give  the 
Association  a  monument  to  Calhoun  which  will  be  en- 


tirely  worthy  of  the  subject.  He  said  this  with  much 
earnestness,  because  before  he  had  had  the  opportunity 
of  gauging  the  talent  of  Mr.  Harnisch,  he  had  thought 
the  Association  had  acted  hastily  in  selecting  an  artist 
who  had  not  already  acquired  a  European  reputation. 
He  was  much  pleased  to  find  that  Mr.  Harnisch  occupied 
a  high,  position  in  artistic  circles  in  Rome,  and  he  feels 
confident  that  no  one  could  be  found  in  Italy  who 
would  devote  himself  more  assiduously  to  the  execu 
tion  of  the  monument.  He  thinks  that  the  action  of 
the  Association  in  selecting  Mr.  Harnisch  will  be  most 
completely  and  entirely  justified  by  the  result  of  his 
labours.  The  central  figure  of  Calhoun  is  nearly  com 
pleted  in  clay,  and  when  finished  the  Calhoun  Monu 
ment  will  be  by  far  the  most  imposing  work  of  art  in 
the  South,  an  ornament  to  the  City  of  Charleston  and  a 
credit  to  the  State,  as  well  as  a  worthy  memorial  to 
the  constancy  which  preserved  the  memorial  fund,  and 
the  genius  which  gave  shape  and  form  to  Carolina's  un 
dying  veneration  of  her  great  son." 

With  what  sincere  and  enthusiastic  delight  the  ladies 
of  the  Association  read  from  time  to  time  the  criticisms 
upon  Mr.  Harnisch  and  his  work ;  criticisms  that  came 
from  the  pens  of  able  and  brilliant  writers.  Mr.  Sartain, 
President  of  the  Philadelphia  Art  Association,  a  resident 
for  several  years  at  Rome,  and  a  man  perfectly  familiar 
with  the  highest  types  of  ancient  and  modern  art, 
writes  from  Paris,  November  2nd,  1883  :  "My  first  im 
pression  (of  statue)  was  pleasurable  surprise  ;  surprise 
at  the  magnitude  of  the  work  and  pleasure  at  the  style 
and  character  of  its  execution.  The  action  of  the  right 
hand  and  the  expression  of  the  face,  convey  the  idea  of 
a  man  reasoning  closely.  He  appears  to  have  risen  from 


30 


his  chair  and  to  be  in  the  act  of  addressing  an  audience. 
The  weight  of  his  body  is  throw  chiefly  on  the  right 
leg,  and  the  left  is  advanced  forward  in  an  easy  position 
and  bent  at  the  knee,  of  course.  The  face  is  wrought 
to  an  artistic  finish,  and  I  judge  must  be  a  good  like 
ness  from  the  conception  I  have  formed  from  portraits 
said  to  be  good.  The  drapery  is  gracefully  disposed, 
and  with  a  free  and  bold  execution,  so  important  for 
effect,  especially  in  large  work.  One  thing  I  like  in  it 
is  the  absence  of  the  extreme  of  gesticulation  I  have 
seen  in  some  statues  of  public  men." 

The  correspondent  of  the  Baltimore  Sun,  writing 
about  December,  1883,  from  Rome,  speaks  in  glowing 
and  appreciative  terms  of  the  subject  in  a  long  letter, 
extracts  of  which  we  are  only  able  to  give,  because  of 
the  want  of  space:  u  This  statue  model  of  the  great 
Calhoun  is  indeed  animated  clay.  I  can  remember  see 
ing  Calhoun  when  I  was  in  the  spring  and  he  in  winter 
of  life.  Indeed,  I  sat  opposite  him  at  the  dinner-table 
for  many  a  day.  *  *  ""  In  this  colossal  model  I 
again  see  the  great  'Nullifier.'  He  is  here,  perhaps, 
made  to  appear  rather  in  the  midsummer,  than  in  the 
winter  of  life.  The  prime  of  age  is  the  happy  mean 
for  the  artist.  There  is  none  of  that  shaggy  long  hair 
thrown  back  fitfully ;  none  of  that  lion  like  crouching 
that  marked  the  declining  days  of  the  hero  of  the  pal 
metto  forest.  He  now  stands  erect  in  that  pose  which 
gave  him  the  greatest  prominence  in  the  United  States 
Senate  and  caused  every  eye  and  every  ear  to  be  di 
rected  to  the  Southern  orator.  *  *  *  His  head 
erect  and  well  posed,  on  a  lithe,  nervous,  yet  firm  frame; 
his  deep-set,  stern  eyes,  beneath  a  massive  brow ;  his 
pulsating  nostrils  and  his  compressed  rigid  lips  with  the 


31 


well-defined  lines  of  the  cheek  and  chin  of  the  oratori 
cal  type,  are  all  before  you  in  this  model.  The  nervous 
right  hand  and  arm  are  half  extended ;  the  former  be 
ing  one  of  those  'great,  yet  not  large  hands  that  speak/ 
The  left  foot  is  advanced,  and  gives  to  the  figure  that 
1  light,  livingness  of  Senatorial  grace,'  as  Cicero  would 
say.  *  Standing  in  front  of  his  Senatorial  chair, 

on  which  is  flung  the  cloak,  he  was  wont  to  wear,  you 
have  before  you  the  great  formulator  of  '  State  Sov 
ereignty,'  in  all  his  earnest,  breathing,  life-like  char 
acter.  *  *  *  As  a  work  of  art  it  will  be  unique, 
not  only  in  the  vitality  of  the  chief  figure  arid  the  re 
pose  of  the  secondary  figures,  but  in  the  ornate  and 
appropriate  ensemble.  *  Mr.  Harnisch  can 

afford  to  rest  his  reputation  on  this  work,  and  South 
Carolina  can  equally  afford  to  be  proud  of  the  good 
taste  in  the  selection  of  the  artist  for  this  work.  *  *  * 
This  work  is  simply  true  and  truly  simple.  The  spirit 
of  Calhoun  comes  up  before  you  as  well  as  the  outer 
man.  *  Mr.  Harnisch  has  reproduced  the  ac 

cessories  of  dress,  the  broad  facings  of  the  frock  coat, 
the  close-fitting,  yet  semi-neglige  pantaloons  strapped 
over  the  boots." 

The  criticism  of  Miss  Anne  Hampton  Brewster  also 
deserves  a  place  here,  not  only  because  of  her  acknowl 
edged  ability  and  knowledge  in  art  subjects,  but  be 
cause  of  her  representing  another  and  important  part 
of  the  States.  She  also  writes  from  Rome,  and  writes 
to  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser:  u  The  heads  of  these 
figures  (Truth,  Justice,  the  Constitution  and  History) 
are  enveloped  in  sybil-like  drapery.  They  are  large 
framed,  vigorous  women,  Michaelangelesque  in  pose  and 
body ;  have  calm,  thoughtful  faces,  large,  tranquil  eyes 


32 


that  look  out  and  beyond,  as  the  prophetesses  of  Bible 
days.  From  the  summit  of  the  step-base,  on  which  are 
seated  these  figures,  rises  the  pedestal  of  the  main 
statue,  the  subject  of  the  monument.  Calhoun  stands 
upon  it,  as  a  Roman  orator  on  the  rostra  or  suggestum 
of  the  Roman  forum.  *  """  ~x~  The  committee  may 
well  congratulate  themselves  upon  having  made  so 
judicious  a  selection  of  sculptor  and  model." 

Drawings  and  measurements  for  the  foundation  for 
the  base  were  received  in  July,  1884,  from  the  artist. 
The  sub-committee  of  the  Gentlemen's  Auxiliary  Com 
mittee,  appointed  to  have  specifications  made  for  the 
foundation  of  the  monument,  submitted  the  drawings 
and  measurements  of  Harnisch  to  Mr.  W.  B.  W. 
Howe,  Jr.,  architect,  with  the  request  to  prepare  all 
the  details  for  the  foundation,  and  the  sub-committee 
recommended  that  he  be  chosen  as  the  architect  to 
superintend  the  erection  of  the  monument.  He  was 
chosen.  The  resolution  was  also  adopted  that  the  As 
sociation  accept  the  offer  of  Patrick  Culleton  and  J.  E. 
Kerregan  to  build  the  foundation  according  to  the' 
plans  and  specifications  of  W.  B.  W.  Howe,  Jr.  Out 
of  the  thirteen  bids,  the  offer  of  Mr.  Emile  T.  Viett 
was  accepted  to  build  the  monument  of  Winnsboro' 
granite,  and  set  the  bronze  statue  in  place.  During  the 
July  session  of  this  same  year  Gen.  C.  I.  Walker  and 
Samuel  G.  Stoney,  Esq. ,  were  chosen  by  the  ladies  to  fill 
the  vacancies  in  the  committee  of  thirteen  gentlemen, 
caused  by  the  death  of  Hon.  W.  D.  Porter  and  the 
resignation  of  Gen.  Edward  McCrady,  Jr.  In  May,  1885^ 
Gen.  B.  H.  Rutledge  resigned.  In  March,  1886,  the 
names  of  Hon.  A.  G.  Magrath  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Brawley 
were  added  to  the  list  of  the  Advisory  Committee,  thus 
making  fifteen  instead  of  thirteen  members. 


:mn 

33 


About  March,  1886,  it  was  proposed  that  instead  of 
the  four  allegorical  figures,  u  Truth,  Justice,  the  Con 
stitution  and  History,"  to  be  placed  around  on  the  base, 
there  should  be  substituted  four  statues  of  distinguished 
South  Carolina  contemporaries  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  The  four 
statesmen  suggested  were  William  Lowndes,  Langdon 
Cheves,  Robt.  Y.  Hayne  and  Hugh  S.  Legare.  This  prop 
osition  was  never  adopted,  because,  upon  consultation 
with  the  artist,  this  substitution  was  found  to  be  impracti 
cable,  as  the  statue  being  based  on  one  concentrated  idea 
the  substitution  would  necessitate  an  entire  change  of 
that  idea,  and  hence,  of  the  whole  work  to  the  very 
foundation ;  and  further,  the  proposition  was  not 
adopted,  because  of  the  double  expense  and  the  greater 
length  of  time  for  completion  that  would  be  incurred. 

Under  the  Treasurer  and  her  able  business  advisers, 
the  fund  of  the  Association  had  been  managed  with 
consummate  skill,  and  upwards  of  $60,000  had  accu 
mulated.  No  expense  was  spared  in  making  the  foun 
dation  and  pedestal  solid,  symmetrical  and  imposing. 
The  granite  structure  stands  thirty-six  feet  square  and 
thirty-three  feet  in  height,  while  the  bronze  statue  is 
another  fifteen  feet  high.  The  statue  was  cast  at  the 
San  Michele  Foundry,  at  Rome. 

Mr.  W.  Astor,  United  States  Consul  at  Rome,  having 
been  repectfully  requested  to  do  so,  acted  as  the  agent 
of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  and  from 
time  to  time  gave  them  information  on  the  subject  of 
their  work. 

The  Association  invited  thirty-four  young  ladies  to 
fill  the  role  of  unveilers  at  the  ceremonies  of  present 
ing  the  statue  to  the  public.  Thirty-four  were  chosen 
because  there  are  thirty-four  districts  in  the  State. 


34 


These  young  ladies  were,  with  few  exceptions,  related 
to  Mr.  or  Mrs.  Calhoun.  There  were  also  eight  baby 
unveilers,  great-grandchildren,  and  very  near  relatives 
of  the  statesman.  All  were  requested  by  the  Associa 
tion  to  be  dressed  in  the  colours  of  the  State — blue  and 
white — and  to  wear  a  tree  and  crescent  of  palmetto,  as 
badges. 

The  Association  tendered  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Judge 
Magrath  for  having  arranged  the  programme  for  the 
ceremonies. 

Among  others,  special  invitations  were  sent  to  Presi 
dent  Cleveland  and  Cabinet,  the  President  of  the  Senate 
pro  tern.,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
the  Governors  of  the  States,  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  Mr.  Ven- 
able,  of  North  Carolina;  Mr.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia; 
Prof.  Rivers,  of  South  Carolina ;  Ex- Chief- Justice  Daly, 
of  New  York ;  the  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
South  Carolina ;  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  South  Carolina,  the  other  State  officials  of  South 
Carolina,  the  Mayor  and  City  Council  of  Charleston,  the 
Mayors  and  City  Councils  of  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  of 
Fredericksburg,  Va.,  and  of  Petersburg,  Ya.,  the  sur 
vivors  of  the  "  Committee  of  Twenty-five  who  had  been 
appointed  to  go  to  Washington  for  Mr.  Calhoun's  body," 
the  survivors  of  the  "  Committee  of  Fifty  who  had  been 
appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  the  reception  of 
the  body,"  the  surviving  Marshals  and  Guard  of  Honour 
who  officiated  at  his  obsequies,  Military  and  Civic 
Societies,  Citadel  Cadets,  and  to  the  members  of  Mr. 
Calhoun's  family.  Through  a  general  and  published 
announcement  u  the  Directresses  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun 
Monument  Association,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  all 
who  assisted  them  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  work 


35 


so  eminently  due  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Calhoun  "  the 
entire  public  were  invited  to  be  present  and  take  part 
in  the  great  celebration. 

At  the  meeting  held  June  1st,  1886,  the  Gentlemen's 
Auxiliary  Committee  handed  in  the  names  of  several 
distinguished  statesmen,  from  whom  a  choice  should  be 
made  of  an  orator  to  deliver  an  oration. on  this  occasion 
of  the  consummation  of  the  ladies'  work,  and  the  dedi 
cation  of  the  monument  to  Calhoun.  The  choice  fell 
on  the  Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  of  Mississippi,  Secretary 
of  the  Interior ;  a  mediator  of  peace  and  a  reformer,  a 
public  servant  faithful  to  his  people,  and  efficient  in  the 
exercise  of  his  trust,  a  zealous  worker  for  the  promo 
tion  of  all  pure  and  simple  forms  of  government,  he 
stands  out  to-day  before  the  world  a  living  example  of 
a  true  citizen  and  unblemished  statesman,  an  orator 
and  a  patriot,  loving  and  beloved  by  all  the  inhab 
itants  of  this  broad  land.  In  writing  to  the  Chair 
man  of  the  Gentlemen's  Committee,  Mr.  Lamar  says 
in  one  of  his  letters:  u  The  theme  magnifies  in  im 
portance  as  I  study  it.  The  more  I  consider  the  ca 
reer  and  speeches  of  Mr.  Calhoun  the  more  firmly  is 
the  conviction  riveted  upon  my  mind  that  he  was  among 
the  profound  thinkers  and  great  statesmen  of  the  cen 
tury  primus  inter  pares.  This  can  be  shown  within  the 
limits  of  a  not  very  long  address.  1  am  not  sure  that 
I  can  do  it,  even  with  opportunity  for  study  and  pre 
paration,  but  if  I  can,  it  will  be  the  proudest  achieve 
ment  of  my  life,  and  one  that  I  would  be  glad  to  make 
the  peroration  of  my  own  humble  career." 

Miss  E.  B.  Cheesborough  and  Mrs.  Margaret  J.  Pres 
ton  accepted  invitations  to  write  odes,  and  Paul 
H.  Hayne,  just  before  his  death,  wrote  to  the  Associa- 


36 


tion  and  offered  to  write  one  for  this  occasion  of  pride 
to  South  Carolina. 

The  regular  quarterly  meeting  that  should  have  been 
called  in  September  of  1886  was  omitted  because  of  the 
terrible  earthquake  of  the  31st  of  August,  and  the  meet 
ing  which  should  have  been  called  in  the  following 
December,  was  also  omitted,  as  many  of  the  officers  and 
Directresses,  driven  out  of  the  city  by  that  same  catas 
trophe,  had  not  yet  returned.  Strange,  while  the  city 
was  almost  demolished  by  that  great  convulsion  of  na 
ture,  the  unfinished  base  and  pedestal  of  the  monument 
were  not  in  the  smallest  degree  hurt. 

And  now  to-day,  the  26th  of  April,  1887,  a  day  sig 
nificant,  as  being  the  anniversary  of  the  day,  when 
nearly  forty  years  ago  the  remains  of  our  statesman 
were  received  in  this  city  and  delivered  to  the  people 
of  South  Carolina  by  the  Senators,  Jefferson  Davis,  of 
Mississippi ;  James  Mason,  of  Virginia ;  Daniel  S.  Dick 
inson,  of  New  York  ;  John  H.  Clarke,  of  Rhode  Island  ; 
Augustus  C.  Dodge,  of  Iowa;  J.  McPherson  Berrien, 
of  Georgia ;  Mr.  Beale,  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  Senate, 
and  Messrs.  Venable,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Isaac  E. 
Holmes,  of  South  Carolina,  both  of  whom  were  mem 
bers  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  distin 
guished  Committee,  in  whose  charge  the  remains  had 
been  placed  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  had 
been  chosen  by  Congress  to  represent  the  nation  on  that 
occasion.  And  now  to-day,  the  26th  of  April,  1887, 
through  the  noble  efforts  and  untiring  zeal  of  the 
women  of  Carolina,  does  the  State,  in  presence  of  many 
distinguished  guests  and  a  vast  crowd  of  her  citizens, 
pay  her  debt  of  gratitude  to  her  illustrious  son,  John 
C.  Calhoun,  of  w1  , -n  we  can  truly  say  he  was  great 


37 


from  his  cradle  to  his  grave.  As  history  tells  us,  even 
in  his  childhood  he  discussed  with  his  father  in  a  sur 
prisingly  comprehensive  manner,  the  important  princi 
ples  of  government,  the  choice  of  professions  and  the 
general  pursuits  of  man. 

This  u  great  child  of  honour,"  though  of  humble  pa 
rentage,  was  "  born  in  the  purple  of  English  liberty." 
With  his  plough  and  nature  he  held  communion  in  his 
early  days,  and  up  to  the  day  of  his  death  ever  true  to 
first  principles,  uninfluenced  by  passion  or  prejudice, 
unassailed  by  corruption  and  unawed  by  violence,  he 
was  the  best,  the  wisest  and  the  bravest  man  that  could 
wear  the  crown  of  laurel  woven  by  woman's  fingers  and 
embalmed  with  the  fresh  dews  of  woman's  love. 

Some  days  after  the  unveiling,  the  following  letter 
was  written:  "The  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Asso 
ciation,  with  their  fellow-citizens  of  South  Carolina  and 
distinguished  guests  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
have  heard  with  gratification  your  clear  analysis  of  the 
statesman-like  principles,  constitutional  views  and  con 
servatism  of  the  Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun.  The  Associa 
tion  feel  assured  that  its  preservation  in  a  permanent 
form  will  be  gratifying  to  the  public,  and  materially  add 
to  the  exposition  of  the  history  of  the  United  States 
during  the  first  half  of  the  century,  they  have,  there 
fore,  adopted  this  resolution  :  i  That  the  Hon.  L.  Q.  C. 
Lamar  be  requested  to  furnish  for  publication,  a  copy 
of  his  able  and  eloquent  address  on  the  life,  character 
and  public  services  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  delivered 
before  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  and 
the  public  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on  the  unveil 
ing  of  the  monument  erectod  to  South  Carolina's  dis 
tinguished  statesman." 


REMARKS 

OF    THE 

PRESIDING  OFFICER,  MAYOR  WM,  A.  COURTENAY, 
A  DESCRIPTION 

OF   THE 

PROCESSION  AND  CEREMONIES 

AT   THE 


ON  26TH  APRIL,  1887, 


AT 


Charleston,  South  Carolina, 

AND 

ODES  WRITTEN  FOR  THE  OCCASION, 

BY 
MRS.  MARGARET  J.  PRESTON  AND  Miss  E.  B.  CHEESBOROUGH. 


,7 OH  N     C.  CALHOUN 


A  GRAND  CEREMONY  AND  A  MAGNIFICENT 
CELEBRATION. 


[From  the  News  and  Courier.] 

R® —  ,  .y 
>BED  in  sunshine,  redolent  with  the  varied  perfumes 
of  her  numerous  gardens  fanned  hither  and  thither 
by  exhiliarating  breezes  from  the  sea,  Charleston, 
resting  in  the  lap  of  her  encircling  bay,  smiled  a 
most  gracious  welcome  to  her  guests  on  Calhoun  Day.  Never 
was  sky  more  clear  or  atmosphere  more  balmy.  It  was  as  if 
all  the  elements  had  combined  to  make  a  glorious,  a  perfect 
day.  The  heavy  rains  of  Monday  had  washed  the  paved 
streets  as  clean  as  a  new  floor,  showing  off  to  great  advantage 
this  wonderful  work  of  Mayor  Courtenay's  administration,  and 
giving  the  soldiers  the  best  marching  route  to  be  found  in  the 
country,  while  the  rain  and  wind  together  had  cooled  the  air  so 
as  to  make  military  exercise  a  pleasure  rather  than  a  fatigue. 
Man  seemed  in  unison  with  the  elements,  and  from  early  dawn, 
when  curious  visitors  began  to  roam  the  streets,  until  late  at 
night,  when  the  last  roysterer  returned  to  his  lodgings,  all  went 
smoothly  and  happily.  The  assembly  at  the  Battery,  the  pro 
cession  through  the  streets,  the  ceremonies  at  Marion  Square, 
were  all  grand  spectacles,  attended  by  immense  throngs  and 
successfully  conducted. 

At  an  early  hour  the  city  was  astir  from  the  Battery  to  the 
Porks  of  the  Road  and  from  the  Cooper  to  the  Ashley,  and  long 
before  the  time  for  the  formation  of  the  procession  gay  crowds 
were  wending  their  way  from  the  remoter  quarters  of  the  city  to 
positions  where  a  view  could  be  obtained  of  one  or  the  other  of 
the  great  events  of  the  day.  Later,  the  streets  were  enlivened 
by  military  companies  marching  to  and  fro,  and  the  music  of 
numerous  bands  filled  the  air.  By  12  o'clock  the  Battery  and 
Marion  Square  were  black  with  the  immense  throngs  of  people, 
while,  on  both  sides  of  the  mile  and  a  half  of  Meeting  street, 


42 

along  which  the  procession  was  to  move,  and  on  East  and  South 
Battery,  and  King,  Calhoun  and  Meeting  streets,  enclosing 
Marion  Square  on  three  sides  and  the  Citadel  on  the  other,  every 
piazza,  balcony,  window,  parapet  and  other  point  of  vantage  was 
occupied  by  eager  spectators.  Many  of  these  people  waited 
patiently  for  hours,  and  a  large  crowd  lingered  at  Marion  Square 
until  the  last  act  in  the  unveiling  ceremonies  had  been  per 
formed.  Notwithstanding  the  excitement  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
day,  and  the  unprecedented  number  of  visitors  in  the  city,  no 
accident  or  disturbance  of  any  kind  occurred  to  mar  the  perfect 
success  of  the  celebration. 

Truly,  the  ladies  of  the  Oalhoun  Monument  Association  may 
congratulate  themselves  on  so  brilliant  a  termination  to  their 
many  years  of  earnest  and  consecrated  labor.  The  assemblage 
of  distinguished  persons  was  most  notable,  the  gathering  of 
visitors  from  all  parts  of  the  State  most  flattering,  the  military 
display  the  grandest  that  has  been  seen  in  Charleston  for  many 
a  long  day,  and  last,  but  not  least,  the  orator  and  the  oration 
were  worthy  of  the  great  man  whose  memory  was  honored. 

From  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  the  warriors  were  up  and  in 
arms  getting  ready  for  the  pageant.  The  ladies,  too,  were  up 
betimes.  There  were  few  houses  in  Charleston  where  an  early 
and  hasty  breakfast  was  not  served  ;  the  ladies  were  up  and 
ready,  if  the  truth  were  known,  long  before  the  soldiers,  and  by 
9  o'clock  the  streets  were  alive  with  the  gayest,  largest  and  most 
variegated  throng  of  people  that  has  been  seen  here  for  many 
years.  The  crowd  wandered  in  every  direction — some  towards 
Marion  Square,  some  towards  the  Battery,  some  towards  the 
hotels,  and  some  to  the  various  places  along  Meeting  street  where 
they  had  secured  windows  or  balconies  from  which  to  view  the 
procession.  Flags  fluttered  to  the  crisp  morning  breeze  from 
almost  every  building  on  the  route  of  the  procession.  It  was  a 
bright,  bracing  day,  a  glorious  April  morn,  with  just  a  sufficient 
touch  of  early  spring  in  the  temperature  to  make  a  walk  in  the 
sun  pleasant,  and  the  entire  population  of  Charleston  was  soon 
in  the  streets. 

As  the  day  advanced  the  crowd  in  the  streets  increased,  until 
by  10  o'clock  pedestrianism  was  almost  impossible  on  the  side 
walks,  while  the  horse-cars  rushed  along  crowded  to  the  plat 
form  with  men,  women  and  children. 


43 
ON  THE  BATTERY. 

By  11  o'clock  the  stream  of  travel  was  divided,,  about  one- 
third  flowing  in  the  direction  of  the  Battery,  an  equal  number 
in  the  direction'of  Marion  Square,  while  the  others  were  safely 
housed  in  their  special  windows  along  the  route.  The  First 
Battalion  reached  the  general  rendezvous  first,  taking  up  their 
position  on  East  Battery.  They  were  followed  by  the  Regiment 
of  visiting  companies,  and  then  by  the  Artillery,  Dragoons  and 
Cadets.  Thousands -of  civilians  followed  them,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  place  was  densely  crowded.  It  was  a  bright  scene.  The 
waters  in  the  harbour  were  glassy,  not  a  ripple  disturbing  the 
bosom  of  the  water,  in  which  numerous  vessels  lay,  gaily  decked 
in  bunting  from  stem  to  stern.  The  bayonets  of  the  soldiers 
glistening  in  the  sun,  their  handsome  uniforms  mingling  with 
the  varied  colors  of  the  many  brilliant  parasols  and  dresses  of 
the  ladies,  with  the  dark  green  of  the  trees  in  White  Point  Gar 
den  as  a  background,  formed  a  kaleidoscope  of  rich  colors,  the 
shifting  beauties  of  which  would  defy  the  brush  of  an  artist. 
Gaily  caparisoned  staff  officers  galloped  hither  and  thither, 
moving  the'-troops  into  line,  while  the  music  of  a  half  dozen 
Military  bands  enlivened  the  scene. 

THE  PROCESSION— A  MAGNIFICENT  PAGEANT. 

Promptly  at  noon  the  vast  crowd  of  soldiers  and  citizens  who 
were  to  take  part  in  the  procession  were  got  into  line  and  the 
grand  pageant  moved  off  in  three  divisions. 

Meeting  street  from  the  Battery  was  by  this  time  entirely 
blocked  with  people.  It  is  estimated  that  there  could  have 
been  not  less  than  twenty  thousand  people  gathered  along  the 
route  of  the  parade.  The  approach  of  the  column  was  heralded 
by  an  almost  endless  procession  of  street  cars,  which  had  been 
packed  at  the  Battery  terminus  of  the  City  Railway.  Then 
came  a  single  policeman  and  the  procession  itself,  which  took 
thirty-five  minutes  to  pass  a  given  point,  and  which  was  com 
posed  as  follows: 

HON.  H.  E.  YOUNG  as  Chief  Marshal,  and  his  Assistants. 
GOVERNOR  RICHARDSON  and  Staff,  with  Adj  i  Gen.  BONHAM. 


44 

Music. 

.  T.  A.  HUGTJENIN,  Commanding  the  Division,  and  Staff. 
Music. 

REGIMENT  OF  VISITING  TROOPS,    comprising  the  following 
companies: 

1.  Gordon  Light  Infantry,  of  Winnsboro',  Capt.  W.  G.  Jor 
dan,  Lieut.  J.  W.    Siegler,  32  men.     Uniform    of   dark   blue 
trimmed  in  light  blue,  white  cross  belts  and   blue  and  white 
epaulettes,  and  blue  kepies  with  white  feather  plumes. 

2.  Governor's  Guards,  of  Columbia,  Capt.  Wilie  Jones,  Lieuts. 
E.  E.  Calvo  and  George  K.  Wright,  35  men.     "Uniform,  cadet 
grey  faced  with  black  and  trimmed  with  gold,  grey   kepies, 
white  plumes,  epaulettes  of  white  and  gold. 

3.  Richland  Volunteer  Rifles,  of  Columbia,  Capt.  Chas.  Newn- 
h?  ,n,  Lieuts.  J.  K.  Alston  and  Chas.  Cronenberg,  30  men.     Uni- 
fc-rm,  cadet  grey  trimmed  and  faced  with  black  and  gold,  white 
and  gold  epaulettes,  cross  belts  and  kepies  with  white  pompons. 

4.  Catawba  Rifles,  of  Rock  Hill,  Capt.  Allan  Jones,  Lieut.  R. 
T.  Fewell,  30  men.     Uniform,  cadet  grey,  faced  and  trimmed 
with  green  and  gold. 

5.  Greenville  Guards,   Capt.  J.   M.   Patrick,  Lieuts.    P.  W. 
Seyles  and  William  Hunt,  30  men.     State  regulation  uniform. 

6.  Abbeville  Rifles,   Capt.  W.  C.  McGowan,   Lieuts.  A.  W. 
Smith  and  G.  B.  Lythgoe,  30  men.     State  regulation  uniform. 

7.  Darlington   Guards,   Capt.   E.    R.    Mclver,   Lieut.   J.   K. 
Mclver,  Acting  Lieut.  J.  S.   Burch,  30  men.     Uniform,  olive 
green,  faced  with  buff  and  trimmed  with  gold,  green    kepies 
with  white  and  green  pompons; 

8.  Florence  Rifles,  Capt.  J.  W.  Elgie,  Lieuts.  W.  M.  Brown 
and  J.  P.  McNeill,  30  men.     State  regulation  uniform. 

9.  Sumter  Light  Infantry,  Capt.  H.  F.  Wilson,  Lieuts.  R.  A. 
Bryan,  A.  C.  Phelps  and  L.  W.  Dick,  SO  men.     State  regula 
tion  uniform. 

Brig. -Gen.  R.  N.  RICHBOURG,  of  Columbia,  commanded  the 
companies  of  the  Second  Brigade;  Brig.-Gen.  W.  E.  JAMES,  of 
Darlington,  the  companies  of  the  Third  Brigade,  and  Col.  J.  Q. 
MARSHALL  those  of  the  Palmetto  Regiment. 


45 

Music. 

Beaufort  Volunteer  Artillery,  Capt.  B.  B.  Sams,  Lieut.  A.  P. 
Prioleau,  36  men. 

The  company  is  uniformed  in  grey,  trimmed  with  crimson 
and  gold,  and  paraded  as  infantry,  with  muskets  and  knap 
sacks,  presenting  a  splendid  appearance.  Indeed,  the  entire 
regiment  of  visiting  troops  attracted  much  attention  by  their 
handsome  appearance,  their  soldierly  bearing  and  their  evolu 
tions. 

Music. 

BATTALION  OF  CITADEL  CADETS,  100  strong,  Lieut.  A.  L. 
Mills,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding;  Cadet  Lieut.  W.  H.  Allen,  adju 
tant. 

First  Company,  Cadet  Capt.  C.  B.  Ashley,  Lieuts.  H.  A.  Brun- 
son  and  E.  E.  Lee. 

Second  Company,  Cadet  Capt.  G.  A,  Lucas,  Lieut,  I.  I.  Bag- 
nal. 

Third  Company,  Cadet  Capt.  R.  R.  Jeter,  Lieut,  B,  L.  Clark. 

Fourth  Company,  Cadet  Capt.  W,  L.  Bond,  Lieut,  E.  A, 
Laird, 

Music. 

FIRST  BATTALION  INFANTRY,  4th  brigade,  Lieut. -Col.  L. 
DeB.  McCrady;  Adjutant,  Lieut.  F.  J,  Deverenx;  Surgeon,  Dr. 
P.  G.  DeSaussure;  Quartermaster,  Lieut.  J.  II.  Heins;  Judge 
Advocate,  Lieut.  C.  B.  Northrop. 

1.  German  Fusiliers,  Capt.  H.  Schachte,  48  men. 

2.  Palmetto  Guards,    color   company,    Capt.   E.   L.  Bull,  45 
men. 

3.  Irish  Volunteers,  Capt.  C.  A.  McHugh,  30  men. 

4.  Montgomery  Guards,  Capt.  D.  O'Neill,  35  men. 

5.  Washington  Light  Infantry,  Capt.  J.  Lamb  Johnston,  52 
men. 

Drum    Corps. 

SECOND  BATTALION  OF  INFANTRY,  4th  brigade,  Capt.  B.  H. 
Rutledge,  commanding. 

1.  Sumter  Guards,  Capt.  S.  Hyde,  Jr.,  61  men. 

2.  Carolina  Rifles,  Lieut.  H.  M.  Tucker,  Jr.,  30  men. 

Music. 


46 

FIRST  REGIMENT  OF  ARTILLERY,  Capt.  F.  W.  Wagener  com 
manding. 

1.  Pioneer  Corps,  Capt.  F.  Mel  criers. 

2.  German  Artillery  Band,  Capt.  Andreas  Wagener. 

3.  First   company    German  Artillery,  dismounted,  Lieut.  J. 
F.  Meyer. 

4.  Second  Company  Baitery,  Lieut.  J.  F.   Lilienthal,  total 
150  men. 

5.  Lafayette  Artillery,  Capt.  H.  L.  P.  Bolger,  40  men. 

Music. 

FIRST  BRIGADE  CAVALRY,  Gen.  C.  St.  G.  Sinkler  command 
ing. 

1.  German  Hussars,  Capt.  J.  Ancrum  Simons,  25  men. 

2.  Charleston  Light  Dragoons,  Capt.  S.  G.  Stoney,  25  men. 

3.  Eutaw  Light  Dragoons,  Capt.  J.  S.  Porcher,  20  men. 

THE  SECOND  DIVISION. 

This  Division  comprised  all  the  civil  organizations.  Never, 
perhaps,  since  the  funeral  of  the  immortal  Culhoun  have  the 
civil  societies  of  Charleston  turned  out  in  such  large  numbers 
or  with  such  full  ranks  to  do  honour  to  occasion  of  any  kind. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  this  feature  of  the  procession 
should  have  proved  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  interesting 
to  viewers  of  the  grand  pageant,  both  by  reason  of  its  novelty 
and  because  of  the  splendid  display  made  by  the  various  organi 
zations,  the  members  of  which  paraded  in  citizens'  dress,  most 
of  them  wearing  badges  and  carrying  walking-sticks. 

This  Division  was  formed  on  the  south  side  of  South  Battery, 
with  right  resting  on  Meeting  street,  and  fell  into  line  behind 
the  Battalion  of  Artillery  in  the  following  order  : 

Marshals — James  F.  Redding  and  John  C.  Mallonee. 

St.  Patrick's  Benevolent  Society,  over  seventy  years  old, 
turned  out  300  strong,  and  headed  by  President  Thomas  Flynn 
and  Vice-President  William  E.  Milligan.  The  members  paraded 
in  suits  of  black  with  knots  of  green  ribbon  in  their  button 
holes,  marching  beneath  the  folds  of  their  ancient  and  honoured 
banner,  which  was  borne  in  the  funeral  pageant  of  Calhoun 
thirty-seven  years  ago. 


The  German  Friendly  Society,  organized  over  one  hundred 
and  twenty-four  years  ago,  with  a  membership  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  members,  appeared  in  large  force  under  the  super 
vision  of  President  F.  Von  Santen  and  Marshal  Jacob  Kruse. 

The  Medical  Society  of  S.  C.,  represented  by  Drs.  F.  Peyre 
Porcher,  Robert  L.  Brodie  and  John  Guiteras. 

The  High  School  of  Charleston  turned  out  in  larger  force 
than  at  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Calhoun  in  1850,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  lads  being  present  yesterday.  Accompanying  them  in 
the  procession  were  Mr.  Virgil  0.  Dibble,  principal,  and  Messrs. 
G.  G.  Leland,  Thos.  Delia  Torre,  W.  M.  Whitehead,  W.  H. 
Schaefer  and  F.  P.  Valdez,  teachers.  Each  pupil  wore  a  dainty 
satin  badge  bearing  the  seal  of  the  school  and  an  appropriate 
legend. 

The  College  of  Charleston  was  represented  by  President  Shep 
herd  and  Professors  F.  W.  Capers,  G.  E,  Manigault  and  Sylvester 
Primer,  of  the  faculty. 

Marshals — E.  J.  Kirk,  George  W.  Williams,  Jr.,  F.  F.  Jones. 

Mechanics'  Union  No.  1,  organized  in  1869.  The  Union  was 
the  first  civic  organization  to  appear  at  the  rendezvous,  which 
they  did  under  command  of  President  J.  D.  Murphy.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  members  paraded,  each  wearing  an  appro 
priate  white  badge. 

South  Carolina  Division  of  the  Travellers'  Protective  Associ 
ation,  President  E.  C.  Green,  of  Sumter,  commanding  ;  J.  A. 
Enslow,  Jr.,  adjutant.  The  T.  P.  A.'s  turned  out  with  75 
worthy  drummer  boys  in  ranks,  including  President  George  W. 
Clotworthy,  of  the  Maryland  Division  ;  President  E.  N.  Car 
penter,  of  the  Wilmington  Division,  and  other  distinguished 
members  of  the  fraternity.  Each  of  the  members  carried  canes, 
which  they  used  while  marching,  going  through  the  manual  of 
the  walking-stick.  The  escutcheon  of  the  T.  P.  A/s,  a  typical 
drum  mounted  on  a  red  wooden  frame,  was  carried  by  two 
Africans.  Conspicuous  about  it  were  the  decorations  of  green 
laurel,  emblematic  of  the  verdant  named  president  of  the  divi 
sion,  dashed  here  and  there  with  crushed-strawberry  colored 
ribbons. 

Last  in  order  came  the  Vanderbilt  Benevolent  Association, 
headed  by  Metz's  Band,  and  commanded  by  Henry  Buist,  Jr., 


48 

captain;  H.  A.  Pregnall,  marshal.  The  Vanderbilts  paraded 
175  men,  and  made  a  splendid  appearance.  President  Kaufman 
took  position  in  the  ranks,  having  given  way  to  Mr.  Henry  Buist, 
Jr.  The  Association  banner  was  carried  by  Mr.  John  T. 
Forbes,  who  was  supported  on  the  sides  by  Vice-Presidents  J. 
P.  Witcofskey  and  J.  G.  Graddick. 

THE  THIRD  DIVISION. 

What  might  be  termed  the  Third  Division  of  the  civic  and 
military  pageant  was  one  in  which  for  various  reasons  much  of 
the  interest  of  the  day  was  centred.  First,  because  it  included 
the  distinguished  visitors,  and  the  ladies  of  the  Monument  As 
sociation  and  the  young  lady  unveilers.  This  Division  began 
with  the  Independant  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  ended  with 
a  troop  of  cavalry  of  young  gentlemen,  the  line  extending  for 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  Among  those  who  had  been  as 
signed  places  in  this  division  were  the  Free  Masons,  the  Knights 
of  Honor,  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Commissioners  of  Marion 
Square,  the  officers  of  the  South  Carolina  Military  Academy, 
civil  and  military  officers  of  the  United  States,  civil  and  mili 
tary  officers  of  the  State,  members  of  the  State  Senate  and 
House  of  ^Representatives,  and  surviving  officers  and  members 
of  the  Palmetto  Regiment.  None  of  the  foregoing  sub-divis 
ions  paraded  as  such,  but  were  individually  represented  in  other 
parts  of  the  general  parade. 

Those  who  were  represented  as  bodies,  however,  were  as  fol 
lows  : 

The  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  54  strong,  in  full 
regalia,  under  the  command  of  District  Deputy  Grand  Master 
Gerhard  Riecke. 

The  sub-divisions  of  the  Order  and  their  commanding  officers 
were  : 

South  Carolina  Lodge,  No.  1,  A.  J.  Tiencken. 
Marion  Lodge,  No.  2,  J.  J.  Rose. 
Howard  Lodge,  No.  3,  H.  Dublin. 
Schiller  Lodge,  No.  30,  J.  H.  0.  Otjen. 

The  Marshals  in  charge  of  the  Odd  Fellows  and  that  part  of 
the  line  extending  as  far  as  the  ladies  of  the  Association,  were 


49 

Gen.  J.  M.  Johnson  of  Marion,  Messrs.  R.  J.  Kirk,  Geo.  W. 
Williams,  Jr.,  and  Frank  Jones. 

The  Foreign  Consuls  who  attended  the  procession,  but  who 
did  not  appear  as  such,  were,  Consul  Nicanor  Lopez,  y  Chacon  ; 
and  Vice  Consul  Frederico  Janer,  of  Spain;  Consul  Cridland,  of 
England;  and  M.  Paul  Du  Jardin,  Vice-Consul,  representing  the 
French  Republic." 

The  representatives  of  the  officers  of  the  Confederate  Army 
who  appeared  in  that  capacity,  were,  Mr.  T.  D.  Waring,  of  the 
old  Washington  Artillery,  and  Capt.  C.  A.  Scanlan,  of  the  1st 
Regulars  South  Carolina. 

Next  in  the  procession  came  the  distinguished  guests  of  the 
city  and  of  the  Ladies'  Association.  The  arrangements  made 
by  the  Chief  Marshal  for  these  were  as  follows  : 

First  carriage  :  Secretary  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  orator  of  the 
day,  Postmaster  General  Vilas,  Ex-Governor  A.  G.  Magrath,  of 
South  Carolina,  and  Mayor  Courtenay,  of  Charleston. 

Second  carriage:  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Fairchild, 
United  States  Senator  Hampton,  Ex-Governor  J.  C.  Sheppard, 
of  South  Carolina,  and  Col.  P.  C.  Gaillard. 

Third  carriage  :  United  States  Senator  D.  W.  Voorhees,  of 
Indiana^  United  States  Senator  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  Col. 
W.  J.  DeTreville,  of  Orangeburg,  representing  the  State  of 
New  Jersey,  and  Gen.  B.  H.  Rutledge,  of  Charleston. 

Fourth  carriage  :  Col.  Hooker,  representing  the  State  of 
Mississippi,  Congressman  J.  J.  Hemphill,  Superintendent  of 
Education  Dawson  and  Major  W.  H.  Brawley. 

Fifth  carriage:  Mr.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  Jr.,  Mr.  L.  Q. 
Washington,  Col.  Isaac  Hayne,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  C.  Pinckney. 

Sixth  carriage  :  Gen.  Rudolph  Seigling,  the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  F. 
Junkin,  Hon.  Wm.  F.  Colcock  and  the  Hon.  W.  Porcher  Miles. 

Seventh  carriage  :  The  Hon.  James  Simons,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representives  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  the  Hon. 
C.  H.  Simonton,  United  States  District  Judge,  Ex-Attorney 
General  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  Charles  Richardson  Miles 
and  Ex-United  States  Judge  George  S.  Bryan. 

Eighth  carriage  :  Comptroller-General  of  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  W.  E.  Stoney,  Congressman  William  Elliott,  of  the 
9th  South  Carolina  District,  Mr.  S.  P.  Ravenel  and  Congress* 
man  S.  Dibble  of  the  First  South  Carolina  District. 

7 


50 

Tenth  carriage :  Gen.  C.  I.  Walker,  Col.  Wm.  Fleming, 
representing  the  State  of  Florida,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stakely,  and  the 
Eev.  John  0.  Willson. 

Eleventh  carriage  :  Mr.  R.  N.  Gourdin,  Mrs.  H.  E.  Young, 
Mrs.  A.  P.  Calhoun  and  Miss  Margaret  Calhoun. 

Twelfth  carriage :  Commodore  D.  N".  Ingraham,  Mrs.  D.  JST. 
Ingraham,  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Ingraham  and  Mrs.  Geo.  H.  Ingraham. 

To  these  succeeded  the  carriages  containing  the  members  and 
directresses  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monumental  Association. 

The  Association  was  represented  as  follows  : 

Officers — Mrs.  George  Robertson,  president ;  Mrs.  H.  W.  De- 
Saussure,  vice-president  ;  Mrs.  Joseph  Walker,  vice-president  ; 
Mrs.  Joseph  Blackman,  corresponding  secretary;  Miss  Fannie 
E.  DeSaussure,  recording  secretary ;  Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden, 
treasurer. 

Directresses — Mrs.  Joseph  Aiken,  Mrs.  S.  Atkins,  Miss  E.  B. 
Cheesborough,  Miss  Maria  C.  Cheesborough,  Mrs.  Louis  D. 
DeSaussure,  Mrs.  Marion  DuBose,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Fitch, 
Mrs.  Cornelia  Grayson,  Mrs.  Mary  Gregg,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Legare, 
Mrs.  John  A.  Leland,  Mrs.  J.  Lockwood,  Miss  Marianne  Porcher, 
Mrs.  Sam'l  D.  Stoney,  Mrs.  T.  J.  Pickens. 

The  carriages  containing  the  ladies  of  the  Association  and 
other  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  aligned  as  follows  : 

First  carriage  :  Mrs.  George  Robertson,  president  of  the  As 
sociation,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden,  treasurer,  Mrs.  Joseph  Black 
man,  corresponding  secretary  and  Miss  May  Snowden. 

Second  carriage:  Mrs.  Thomas  Pickens,  Mrs.  Samuel  B.  Pick- 
ens,  Mrs.  Mary  Gregg,  and  Mrs.  Joseph  Walker,  vice-presi 
dent 

Third  carriage  :  Mrs.  Samuel  D.  Stoney,  Mrs.  Eliza  Legare,  of 
Aiken,  Mrs.  Henry  Grayson  and  Miss  Marianne  Porcher. 

Fourth  carriage  :  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fitch,  Mrs.  J.  Lockwood, 
Mrs.  John  A.  Leland  and  Mrs.  Joseph  Aiken 

Fifth  carriage  :  Mr.  John  C.  Calhoun  with  Julia  Calhoun, 
(baby  unveiler,)  Mr.  Patrick  Calhoun  with  Ben  Putnam  Cal 
houn,  (baby  unveiler,)  Mr.  B.  P.  Calhoun  with  William 
Lowndes  Calhoun,  (baby  unveiler,)  and  Mr.  W.  A.  Ancrum 
with  Sadie  Ancrum  (baby  unveiler) 

Sixth  carriage  :  The  Rev.  John  Johnson  with  Floride  John 
son,  (baby  unveiler,)  Col.  S.  B.  Pickens  with  Fioride  Pickens, 


51 

(baby  unveiler,)  Mr.  Andrew  Calhoun  with  James  and  Adam 
Calhoun  (baby  unveilers). 

A  carriage  containing  Mrs.  Governor  J.  P.  Richardson,  Miss 
Belle  McCaw,  of  Yorkville,  Miss  Coy  Youmans,  of  Columbia,, 
and  Miss  Anna  Keitt. 

Next  came  ten  carriages  containing  thirty-four  young  lady  un 
veilers,  who  represented  the  thirty-four  counties  of  South  Caroli 
na.  Their  names  were  Misses  Conyers  Pickens,  Emmie  Holmes, 
Camilla  Johnson,  Saidee  Simonds,  Eliza  Calhoun  Carrere, 
Norma  E.  Carrere,  Irene  Bulow,  Mary  Pickens,  Eugenia  Cal 
houn  Frost,  Bessie  P.  Eavenel,  Virginia  Porcher,  Emma 
Boylston,  Janie  Simons,  Edith  Courtenay,  N.  R.  Hill,  Minnie 
Vaux,  V.  Marion  Legare,  Dora  Kirk,  Maria  Ravenel,  Kate  C. 
Waties,  Kate  Marshall,  Kittie  Perrin,  Kate  C.  Parker,  Clarkie 
Cothran,  Marion  Mitchell,  Louise  Calhoun,  Goodie  Calhoun, 
Sadie  Calhoun,  Izzie  Bratton,  Maria  Calhoun  Butler,  Sallie  E. 
Gregg,  Annie  F.  Caldwell,  Katie  Houston  and  Miss  Mclntosh. 

The  Marshals,  or  rather  Guards  of  Honor,  of  the  preceding 
ladies  of  the  Association  and  their  lady  friends,  were  as  follows: 
Mr.  Clarence  Cuningham,  marshal-in-chief,  and  Messrs.  P. 
Noble  Simons,  W.  Bonneau  Bennett,  W.  W.  Butler,  Samuel  W. 
Pickens,  Edward  Hughes,  Gregg  Chisolm,  W.  Moultrie  Gour- 
din,  Edward  Frost,  R.  Goodwyn  Rhett,  William  Robertson, 
Hey  ward  Jervey,  Daniel  Huger  and  Julian  Wells,  all  of  whom 
acted  under  the  selection  of  their  lady  friends. 

Another  carriage  contained  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  S.  Vedder,  rep 
resenting  the  New  England  Society,  and  Dr.  Middleton  Michel, 
representing  the  South  Carolina  Medical  Society.  The  marshal 
of  this  special  carriage  was  Mr.  C.  Fitzsimons.  The  other 
marshals  in  charge  of  the  general  line  were  Messrs.  L.  R.  Stau- 
denmeyer,  William  Gregg,  Yates  Snowden  and  E.  B.  Hume. 

As  already  mentioned,  the  procession  was  closed  by  a  troop 
of  cavalry  in  citizens'  dress. 


AT  MA1UON  SQUARE. 


A  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  VAST  ASSEMBLAGE  —  THE  DISTIN 
GUISHED  GUESTS  WHO  WERE  PRESENT — THE  CEREMONIES 
or  THE  UNVEILING. 

The  scene  on  Marion  Square  at  the  outset  of  the  ceremonies 
at  that  point  formed  a  brilliant  and  impressive  picture,  the 
features  of  which  can  scarcely  be  described  in  the  cold  language 
of  print,  but  will  remain  indelibly  fixed  in  the  mind  of  every 
one  who  was  present,  as  actor  or  observer. 

The  great  plaza  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  borders  with  such 
an  assemblage  as  is  rarely  seen  anywhere.  Every  county  in  the 
State  was  represented  in  the  throng.  The  dwellers  in  the  city, 
who  seemed,  indeed,  to  have  come  together  from  every  side  in 
obedience  to  a  common  impulse,  found  themselves  lost  in  the 
multitude  of  their  visitors  and  became  as  strangers  in  sight 
of  their  own  homes.  For  a  considerable  distance  in  every 
direction  around  the  statue  and  speaker's  stand,  people  were 
massed  together  so  densely  that  it  was  impossible  to  pass  the 
living  barriers.  They  who  were  without  could  get  no  nearer, 
while  those  who  constituted  the  charmed  inner  circle  could  not 
possibly  have  escaped  from  their  position  of  high  privilege  by 
any  means  short  of  a  balloon,  or  a  battery  of  artillery,  or  some 
thing  of  that  general  character.  Far  out  from  the  centre  the 
plaza  was  crowded  a  great  deal  too  thickly  for  comfort,  and  if 
the  "touch  of  the  elbow"  is  indeed  a  sign  of  a  common  purpose 
between  him  who  gives  and  him  who  receives  it,  there  can  be  no 
question  whatever  that  all  South  Carolina  had  a  common 
object  in  view  yesterday.  Looking  down  from  any  point  of 
vantage  the  great  square  presented,  for  the  most  part,  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  sea  of  human  heads — or  human  hats,  to  be  more 
accurate — with  umbrellas  and  parasols  for  breakers,  and  with 
new  currents  flowing  in  steadily  all  around  its  shores  without 
visibly  raising  the  general  level.  A  great  wave  had  evidently 


53 

dashed  against  the  grassy  slope  in  the  front  of  the  battlemented 
Citadel,  and  left  many  waifs  stranded  high  and  dry  on  its  green 
summit  and  sides.  The  Citadel  itself  seemed  to  be  staring  with 
all  its  hundred  eyes,  and  with  a  particularly  wide  open  mouth, 
at  the  wonderful  spectacle  presented  to  its  view  without  so 
much  as  a  word  of  warning.  The  lines  of  the  streets  were 
wholly  blotted  out  for  the  time,  the  crowd  covering  the  plaza, 
the  sidewalks  and  the  roadway  alike  with  a  common  mantle  of 
humanity,  and  producing  the  curious  impression  that  the  sea 
already  mentioned  had  burst  its  curbstone  banks  somehow,  and 
overflowed  to  the  foot  of  the  precipitous  brick  hills  beyond. 
The  brick  hills,  of  course,  had  windows  in  them.  The  meta 
phor  should  be  dropped  at  this  point,  therefore  to  avoid  possible 
embarrassment.  Every  window,  from  basement  to  attic,  was 
full  of  bright,  fair  faces,  and  very  many  others  not  so  fair, 
looked  out  from  behind  the  chimney  tops  or  peered  over  the 
edges  of  the  roofs  as  though  seeking  a  soft  paving  stone  for 
their  owners  to  fall  on,  if  emergency  required.  The  belfry  of 
the  Orphanhouse,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  was  seen  to  be  filled 
with  spectators.  The  church  steeples  nearer  at  hand  suddenly 
assumed  an  air  of  peculiar  bleakness  and  extraordinary  roomi 
ness  as  to  their  outside,  simply  because  of  the  wasted  space  they 
afforded  to  the  view  in  so  marked  contrast  with  all  their  sur 
roundings. 

The  stage  which  occupied  a  large  space  between  the  monu 
ment  and  Calhoun  street,  was  scarcely  less  crowded  than  the 
grounds  around  it,  and  presented  a  truly  animated  appearance 
on  every  account. 

The  decorations  were  of  the  most  elaborate  kind,  perhaps,  that 
have  ever  been  displayed  in  Charleston.  The  idea  running 
through  all  the  work  was  that  it  should  be  typical  of  South 
Carolina's  garden  and  forest  products.  For  this  reason  the 
pine,  palmetto  and  laurel  appeared  conspicuously  among  the 
general  features  of  the  design. 

The  appointments  of  the  stage  were  made  under  the  superin 
tendence  of  Dr.  H.  S.  Horlbeck,  assisted  by  Messrs.  C.  Richard 
son  Miles,  James  P.  Lesesne,  C.  F.  Hard,  Glenn  E.  Davis  and 
others.  The  material  used  was  largely  furnished  by  Dr.  A.  B. 
Rose,  who  sent  pine  boughs,  moss,  laurel  trees,  &c.,  to  the  city 
by  the  car  load,  for  the  use  of  the  decoration  committee. 


54 

The  view  of  the  stage  from  any  point  in  front  was  exceed 
ingly  striking.  First  might  be  noted  the  lavish  display  of 
flags — city  flags,  State  flags,  our  National  flags,  and  flags  from 
the  mastheads  of  nearly  every  ship  of  every  nationality  in  port. 
These  were  particularly  noticeable  over  and  around  the  speaker's 
pavilion,  and  of  themselves  would  have  been  a  conspicuous 
feature. 

The  next  noteworthy  detail  of ,  the  display  was  the  long  and 
wavy  festoons  of  moss  which  were  stretched  along  the  whole 
front  of  the  stage.  These  were  the  work  of  the  employees  at 
the  City  Hospital,  under  the  direction  of  Superintendent  Hard. 
From  the  middle  point  of  the  reverse  curve  of  each  loop  de_ 
pended  a  graceful  and  emblematic  laurel  wreath.  These  were 
twenty-five  in  number,  and  were  contributed  by  a  number  of 
ladies  of  Charleston.  Immediately  above  each  wreath  rose  a 
staff  from  which  a  flag  floated  gaily,  and,  indeed,  as  already 
stated,  the  number  of  banners  and  bannerets  was  countless,  and 
had  their  eifect  much  heightened  by  the  breeze  which  stirred 
them  into  life  ii\ keeping  with  the  flutter  of  excitement  around 
the  monument.  The  securing  of  the  flags  and  their  disposition 
were  the  work  of  Messrs.  Tudor  Hall  and  William  H.  Barnwell. 
The  pine  boughs  were  also  a  prominent  feature  of  tho  decoration. 

Two  of  the  most  remarkable,  and  at  the  same  time  most  ap 
propriate  of  the  details  were  palmetto  trees,  one  on  either  side 
of  the  pavilion.  They  were  brought  to  the  city  from  Kiawah 
Island,  and  were  about  thirty  feet  in  height,  and  excellent  spec 
imens  of  the  tree.  Against  each  of  these  trees  was  placed  a  shield, 
on  one  of  which  was  the  familiar  Dum  spiro  spero,  and  on  the 
other  the  equally  familiar  Animis  opibusque parati. 

The  speaker's  stand  was  literally  enveloped  with  flags,  and  on 
the  orator's  desk  was  placed  a  magnificent  plateau  of  roses,  the 
contribution  of  Master  H.  Legare.  The  whole  effect  was  exceed 
ingly  attractive,  and  was  commented  upon  favorably  for  the  good 
taste  displayed  in  the  arrangements,  and  for  the  magnificence  of 
the  exhibition. 

Immediately  under  the  waving  boughs  of  these  symbolic  trees 
of  State  and  under  the  folds  of  an  immense  United  States  flag 
draped  between  their  feathery  crests,  sat  Mr.  Secretary  Lamar, 
the  orator  of  the  occasion.  On  either  side  and  in  the  rear  of  his 
position,  were  grouped  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  had 


55 

accompanied  him  on  his  patriotic  mission — Secretary  Fairchild, 
Postmaster  General  Vilas,  Senator  Voorhees,  Mr.  T.  B.  Ferguson, 
assistant  United  States  commissioner  of  fisheries,  and  Mr.  L.  Q. 
Washington.  Col.  Reginald  Hart,  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  New  York  bar,  though  not  connected  with  Mr.  Lamar's 
party,  was  also  present.  The  State  was  well  represented  by  her 
most  prominent  living  sons.  Among  the  number  of  those  who 
were  on  the  stand  were  : 

Governor  Eichardson,  Lieutenant-Governor  Mauldin,  Senator 
Hampton,  Senator  Butler,  Mayor  Courtenay,  Congressman  Dib 
ble,  Congressman  Hemphill,  Congressman  Elliott,  Ex-Governor 
Sheppard,  Ex-Governor  Bonharn,  Ex-Governor  Magrath,  Judge 
Simonton,  Judge  Bryan,  Gen.  John  Bratton,  Gen.  Eudolph 
Siegling,  Gen.  George  D.  Johnston,  Gen.  James  F.  Izlar,  the 
Hon.  W.  Porcher  Miles,  Gen.  B.  H.  Rutledge,  Ex-Attorney 
General  Miles,  Speaker  Simons,  Comptroller  General  Stoney, 
Judge  A.  0.  Haskell,  the  Rev.  C.  C.  Pinckney,  D.  D.,  the  Rev. 
C.  A.  Stakely,  Judge  Aldrich,  Solicitor  W.  Perry  Murphy,  Rep 
resentative  C.  J.  C.  Hutson,  Col.  S.  B.  Pickens;  Solicitor  H.  H. 
Newton,  Col.  John  B.  Palmer,  Col.  Robert  Aldrich,  Adjutant- 
General  Bonham,  Mr.  Jos.  W.  Barn  well,  Major  H.  E.  Young, 
State  Chemist  Chazal,  Major  W.  H.  Brawley,  the  Rev.  John  0. 
Willson,  Hon.  D.  S.  Henderson,  Col.  John  Cuningham. 

THE  CEREMONIES-MAYOR  COURTENAY'S  ADDRESS. 

By  1  o'clock  the  crowd  had  settled  into  such  order  as  could 
be  expected  from  so  large  a  concourse,  the  military  had  assumed 
their  places,  adding  greatly,  by  their  appearance,  to  the  attrac 
tiveness  of  the  scene,  and  the  ceremonies  were  begun  at  that 
hour,  without  the  delay  and  confusion  usually  incident  to  pub 
lic  occasions. 

At  the  request  of  the  Association,  the  meeting  was  called  to 
order  by  the  Chief  Marshal  Maj.  H.  E.  Young,  and  Mayor 
Courtenay  invited  to  preside. 

On  taking  the  chair,  Mayor  Courtenay  opened  the  proceed 
ings  with  the  following  address  : 

LADIES  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  This  is  a  memorable  anniver 
sary  day  !  At  this  hour  thirty-seven  years  ago  the  most  solemn  and 


56 

imposing  public  pageant  ever  seen  in  Charleston  had  emerged 
from  this  spacious  square  and  contiguous  streets;  it  wended  its 
way  through  the  greatest  length  of  the  city;  it  embraced  in  its 
crowded  ranks  all  the  manhood  of  this  community  and  the  thous 
ands  who  had  flocked  in  from  beyond  its  boundaries,  while  from 
window  and  balcony  and  every  available  standing  place  the  fair 
daughters  of  our  city  and  State  were  sad  and  silent  spectators  of 
these  public  honours,  given  with  one  voice,  and  by  a  common  im 
pulse,  to  our  illustrious  dead. 

No  one,  however  young,  who  witnessed  that  public  demonstra 
tion  of  respect  and  affection  can  ever  forget  the  26th  of  April, 
1850 — an  entire  city  shrouded  with  the  emblems  of  mourning, 
whilst  uncounted  thousands  preserved  for  hours  a  continuous 
and  profound  silence.  "  The  grief  that  does  not  speak,  whis 
pers  the  o'er  fraught  heart/' 

The  last  sad  offices  discharged,  the  remains  of  John  C.  Oalhoun 
were  buried  here,  in  the  heart  of  this  metropolis  of  South 
Carolina,  confided  to  us  as  a  precious  trust,  which  our  people 
have  watched  over  Avith  jealous  care,  and  at  whose  suggestion 
the  State  has  raised  the  imposing  tomb  which  now  encloses  his 
honored  remains. 

This  thirty-seventh  anniversary  day  witnesses  the  same  devo 
tion  to  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  dead.  It  is,  however, 
peculiarly  touching,  as  the  day  of  successful  culmination  of  the 
work  of  the  women  of  Carolina,  in  perpetuating  the  name  and 
fame  of  John  0.  Calhoun. 

' '  Whatever  transports  us  from  the  present  to  the  past,  from 
the  near  to  the  remote,  widens  the  mind  as  well  as  instructs  it ; 
makes  it  reflective,  sets  it  free ;  whatever  recalls  to  us  eminent 
persons,  their  commanding  intellects  and  engaging  parts,  above 
all  their  fortitude  and  self-sacrifice,  reinforces  our  manhood, 
and  encourages  our  virtue." 

The  enduring  bronze  that  is  uncovered  here,  and  will  here  re 
main  a  witness  to  coming  generations  of  honour  and  veneration, 
is  the  tribute  of  Carolina's  daughters.  It  is  sacred  as  their 
thought,  their  sentiment,  and  their  labor.  The  truth,  the  puri 
ty,  the  nobility,  the  intellectual  and  moral  greatness  of  the  dead, 
are  exalted  in  the  gracious  keeping  of  their  tender  and  loyal 
hearts. 

All  honour  to  them  in  their  work  of  patriotism  and  love.     All 


JOHN     C.  CALHOUN 


57 

honor  to  them  in  their  unfaltering  following,  amid  dire  trials 
and  fateful  struggles,  of  this  high  purpose,  and  its  final  achieve 
ment  this  day.  To  them  be  our  gratitude  for  rearing  this  grand 
memorial,  that  will  forever  keep  before  us  the  form  and  counte 
nance  of  him  whose  mind  ruled  so  majestically  in  life ;  who, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  fate  of  some  of  his  public  opin 
ions  in  the  logic  of  events  in  his  country's  history,  has  this  day 
the  homage  of  his  countrymen  everywhere,  for  his  vast  intellect 
ual  power,  his  high  moral  purpose,  his  unbending  will,  his  un 
sullied  public  and  private  life,  and  his  supreme  devotion  to 
duty. 

THE  REV.  DR.   PINCKNEY'S   PRAYER. 

The  opening  prayer  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Cotes- 
worth  Pinckney,  D.  D.,  and  was  as  follows  : 

0  God,  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,  we  adore  Thee  as 
the  Creator  of  all  things,  the  Ruler  of  heaven  and  earth.  Thou 
art  our  Clod,  and  we  will  praise  Thee,  our  fathers'  God,  and  we 
will  bless  Thee.  We  acknowledge  Thee  to  be  the  Lord. 

We  thank  Thee  for  the  goodly  heritage  Thou  hast  given  us, 
and  for  all  Thy  mercies  to  our  native  land.  Whom  Thou  wilt 
Thou  liftest  up,  and  whom  Thou  wilt  Thou  casteth  down,  and 
in  Thy  wisdom  Thou  has  given  us  a  place  among  the  nations  of 
earth.  We  bless  Thee,  0  Lord,  for  Thy  guiding  hand  in  our 
history,  and  for  the  gift  of  wise  and  upright  rulers  to  lead  Thy 
people  in  the  right  way.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  good  example 
of  every  patriotic  man  who  has  lived,  not  for  himself,  but  for 
his  country.  We  gratefully  record  the  virtues  of  that  pure  and 
eminent  statesman  whose  public  services  we  commemorate  to 
day,  and  to  whose  memory  we  dedicate  this  monument.  May 
the  lasting  gratitude  of  his  fellow-citizens  incite  our  public  men 
to  follow  with  equal  courage  the  path  of  duty.  Whatsoever 
things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things 
are  just,  pure,  and  of  good  report,  may  we  all  follow  these 
things  as  he  did. 

Continue  Thy  mercies,  0  God,  to  our  native  land.  Save  us 
from  sin,  which  is  a  reproach  to  any  people.  Deliver  us  from  na 
tional  judgments,  foreign  oppression,  from  intestine  strife,  from 
lawlessness  and  violence.  Bless  the  President  of  the  United 


58 

States,  and  all  others  in  authority.  Direct  our  counsellors,  and 
teach  our  Senators  wisdom,  arid  overrule  all  events  to  promote 
the  glory  of  Thy  name,  the  good  of  Thy  church,  the  safety, 
honor  and  welfare  of  Thy  people.  All  which  we  ask  in  the 
name  of  Thy  Son,  Jesus  Spirit,  to  whom  with  the  Father  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  be  all  honor  and  glory,  world  without  end.  Amen. 

After  a  brief  interval  the  appointed  signal  was  given,  and  a 
band  in  the  midst  of  the  plaza  suddenly  poured  forth  the  inspir 
ing  strains  of  * 'Dixie."  The  vast  multitude  instantly  recog 
nized  the  familiar  strains  before  half  a  dozen  notes  had 
sounded,  and  began  to  cheer.  In  the  same  instant  the  chords 
were  drawn  by  the  hands  of  fair  young  girls,  the  flags  that  had 
closely  draped  the  statue  up  to  this  time  mysteriously  quitted 
their  place  and  floated  away  to  the  height  of  the  neighboring 
standard,  and  the  majestic  form  of  the  great  statesman  stood 
revealed  to  the  eyes  of  his  people — towering  high  above  their 
heads,  as  he  had  towered  in  life  above  the  men  of  his  day  and 
generation. 

It  was  an  impressive  moment,  and  its  significance  seemed  felt 
by  every  heart  in  the  assembled  host.  The  shouting  was  quickly 
succeeded  by  a  deep  silence,  and  every  eye  became  fixed  upon 
the  stern,  bronzed  face.  The  attitude  of  the  figure  is  that 
assumed  by  Mr.  Calhoun  in  delivering  an  address,  and  it  seemed 
for  a  few  moments  as  if  the  people  felt  themselves  to  be  in  his 
presence  and  expected  him  to  speak  to  them  again  in  the  long- 
hushed  accents  of  wisdom  and  warning. 

The  silence  was  more  pleasantly  broken,  however,  by  the  voice 
of  the  living  instead,  and  the  Rev.  Charles  A.  Stakely  reading 
the  following  ode,  which  was  composed  for  the  occasion  by  Miss 
Cheesborough: 

CALHOUN. 
ODE,  BY  Miss  E.  B.  CHEESBOROUGH. 

When  Truth  looked  from  her  starry  heights 

And  called  for  champions  brave, 
He  heard  the  summons  and  went  forth 

His  native  South  to  save. 

Her  balance  in  his  honest  hands 

Fair  Justice  eager  placed. 
While  Wisdom,  with  her  radiant  crown, 

His  subtle  genius  graced. 


The  Constitution  was  his  star, 

And  guided  by  its  light, 
He  strove  to  steer  the  Ship  of  State 

Through  the  darkness  of  the  night. 

Dishonor,  worse  to  him  than  death, 

He  sternly  kept  at  bay, 
And,  on  the  whitest  heights  of  Truth, 

Serenely  took  his  way. 

Invincible  in  logic  stern, 

All  potent  in  debate, 
He  sent  the  arrows  winging  back 

To  the  envenomed  heart  of  hate. 

He  bore  the  odium  of  reproach 

While  battling  for  the  right ; 
His  prophet  voice  in  clarion  tones 

Foretold  the  coining  night 

When  suns  would  set  o'er  fields  of  blood, 
And  stars  shine  o'er  the  same, 

When  War's  dread  torches,  hot  and  red, 
O'er  Southern  homes  would  flame. 

0,  prophet  of  the  eagle  eye ! 

0,  patriot  without  stain ! 
Thou'st  given  a  priceless  gift  to  us 

In  thy  untarnished  name. 

For  this  we've  sought  to  honor  thee, 
Great  champion  of  the  Truth; 

And  fain  would  have  this  hallowed  spot 
A  Mecca  for  our  youth. 

That  journeying  hither  they  may  learn 

To  battle  for  the  right, 
Bearing  Truth's  oriflamme  aloft, 

Undaunted  in  the  fight. 

Through  all  our  golden  jasmine  bowers, 
And  through  magnolia's  bloom, 

One  name  we'll  waft  on  wings  of  love, 
Thy  honored  name,  CALHOUN. 

Float  it  above  the  city's  spires, 

And  o'er  the  bay's  blue  tide, 
Tell  how  he  battled  for  the  South, 

And  battling  thus — he  died. 


60 

We  women  ask  no  brighter  fate, 

We  seek  no  loftier  fame, 
Than  thus  to  link  our  memories 

With  his  immortal  name. 

While  History  weaves  for  him  her  crown, 

The  fairest  ever  seen, 
Carolina's  daughters  long  will  strive 

To  keep  the  garland  green. 


ORATION 


ON    THE 


LIFE,  CHARACTER  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


OF    THE 


HON,  JOHNC.CALHOUN, 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


AND  THE  PUBLIC, 
AT  CHARLESTON,  SOUTH  CAROLINA, 

BY   THE 

HON.  L.  Q.  C.  LAMAR, 

AS  REVISED  BY  HIMSELF. 


ORATION  OF  THE  HON.  L.  Q.  C.  LAMAR. 


WE  are  assembled  to  unveil  the  statue  which  has 
been  erected  to  commemorate  the  life  and  services 
of  John  Caldwell  Calhoun.  It  is  an  interesting 
fact  that  this  statue  is  reared,  not  in  the  centre  of 
political  power,  (the  Capital  of  the  Nation,)  or  in  the  emporium 
of  American  material  civilization,  but  in  his  own  native  State, 
where  he  lived  all  his  life  and  where  he  was  buried.  This  cir 
cumstance  is  in  harmony  with  the  life  and  character  of  the  man. 
One  of  the  most  impressive  traits  of  that  life  and  character  was 
the  attachment  between  himself  and  the  people  of  South  Caro 
lina.  His  devotion  to  their  welfare  was  sleepless,  and  they 
always  felt  a  deep,  unfaltering,  proud  and  affectionate  reliance 
upon  his  wisdom  and  leadership.  This  faith  in  him  grew  out  of 
the  fact  that  he  was,  notwithstanding  his  imposing  position  as 
a  national  statesman,  a  home  man;  a  man  identified  in  senti 
ment  and  sympathy  with  his  own  people,  who,  as  neighbors  and 
friends,  standing  face  to  face  with  him,  had  that  insight  into 
his  private  life  and  character  which  is  seldom,  if  ever,  disclosed 
in  the  public  arena — the  real  life  of  motive,  and  purpose,  and 
feeling.  In  this  intimacy  of  personal  intercourse,  wherein  the 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  are  unconsciously  drawn  out,  there 
was  revealed  to  them  a  noble,  lovely  character,  full  of  tender 
ness  and  self-sacrifice,  gentleness  and  candor,  and  a  simplicity 
and  beautiful  truth  of  soul  which  made  him  the  light  of  their 
eyes  and  the  pride  of  their  heart. 

Mr.  Calhoun  had  a  profound  faith  in  the  worth  and  dignity 
and  destiny  of  man  as  the  noblest  of  all  God's  creatures  on 
earth,  endowed  with  those  great  faculties  and  capacities  which 
fit  him,  through  society  and  free  institutions,  under  Divine  su 
perintendence,  for  progress,  development  and  perfection.  Con 
scious  of  his  own  great  powers,  he  must  have  been;  but  exaltf  d 
as  he  was  in  position,  thought  and  purpose,  so  far  was  he  from 


64 

feeling  that  these  advantages  lifted  him  above  and  apart  from 
the  mass  of  men,  that  he  regarded  them  as  so  many  ties  of  union 
and  brotherhood  with  his  fellow-men,  to  be  devoted  to  their 
welfare  and  happiness.  Whenever,  therefore,  he  returned  from 
the  brilliant  scenes  of  the  National  Capital  to  his  home,  instead 
of  coming  as  a  great  Senator,  to  be  admired  at  a  distance,  he 
met  the  people  as  friends  and  brothers,  all  of  whom,  of  every 
degree  and  class  and  character,  felt  in  the  warm  grasp  of  his 
hand  a  fraternal  regard  that  entered  with  deep  and  unaffected 
sympathy  into  their  feelings,  their  interests,  their  wants,  their 
sorrows  and  their  joys. 

Their  instinctive  perception  of  the  genuine  greatness  of  the 
man,  of  his  open-hearted  largeness  of  nature,  the  simple,  unos 
tentatious,  disinterested  consecration  of  mind  and  heart  to  the 
promotion  of  the  virtue  and  happiness  and  liberty  of  his  people, 
naturally  drew  them  into  a  closer  attachment,  a  deeper  and  an 
almost  personal  co-operation  in  his  high  aspirations  and  aims. 

When  not  in  the  actual  discharge  of  his  official  duties  he  spent 
his  time  in  retirement  at  his  private  home  at  Fort  Hill.  He  was 
occupied  in  agriculture,  in  which  he  took  the  deepest  interest. 
Would  that  I  had  the  power  to  portray  a  Southern  planter's 
home!  The  sweet  and  noble  associations,  the  pure,  refining  and 
elevating  atmosphere  of  a  household  presided  over  by  a  Southern 
matron;  the  tranquil  yet  active  occupations  of  a  large  land 
owner — full  of  interest  and  high  moral  responsibilities;  the 
alliance  between  man's  intellect  and  nature's  laws  of  production; 
the  hospitality,  heartfelt,  simple  and  generous.  The  Southern 
planter  was  far  from  being  the  self-indulgent,  indolent,  coarse 
and  overbearing  person  that  he  has  sometimes  been  pictured. 
He  was,  in  general,  careful,  patient,  provident,  industrious,  for 
bearing,  and  yet  firm  and  determined.  These  were  the  qualities 
which  enabled  him  to  take  a  race  of  untamed  savages,  with 
habits  that  could  only  inspire  disgust,  with  no  arts,  no  single 
tradition  of  civilization,  and  out  of  such  a  people  to  make  the 
finest  body  of  agricultural  and  domestic  laborers  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen;  and,  indeed,  to  elevate  them  in  the  scale  of  ra 
tional  existence  to  such  a  height  as  to  cause  them  to  be  deemed 
fit  for  admission  into  the  charmed  circle  of  American  freedom, 
and  to  be  clothed  with  the  rights  and  duties  of  American  citi 
zenship. 


65 

The  Southern  planter  penetrated  the  dense  forests,  the  tangled 
brake,  the  gloomy  wilderness  of  our  river  swamps,  where  pesti 
lence  had  its  abode,  and  there,  day  by  day  and  year  by  year, 
amidst  exposure,  hardship  and  sickness,  his  foresight,  his  pru 
dence,  his  self-reliance,  his  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  were 
called  into  requisition.  In  the  communion  with  himself,  in  the 
opportunities  for  continued  study,  and  in  the  daily  and  yearly 
provision  for  a  numerous  body  of  dependents — for  all  of  whom 
he  felt  himself  responsible,  about  whom  his  anxieties  were  ever 
alive,  whose  tasks  he  apportioned  and  whose  labors  he  directed — 
he  was  educated  in  those  faculties  and  personal  qualities  which 
enabled  him  to  emerge  from  his  solitude  and  preside  in  the 
County  Court,  or  become  a  member  of  his  State  Legislature;  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  local  magistracy,  or  to  take  his  place  in 
the  National  councils. 

The  solution  of  the  enigma  of  the  so-called  slave  power  may 
be  sought  here.  Its  basis  lay  in  that  cool,  vigorous  judgment 
and  unerring  sense  applicable  to  the  ordinary  affairs  and  inter 
course  of  men  which  the  Southern  mode  of  life  engendered  and 
fostered.  The  habits  of  industry,  firmness  of  purpose,  fidelity 
to  dependents,  self-reliance,  and  the  sentiment  of  justice  in  all 
the  various  relations  of  life  which  were  necessary  to  the  man 
agement  of  a  well-ordered  plantation,  fitted  men  to  guide  legis 
latures  and  command  armies. 

In  confirmation  of  what  I  say,  I  have  only  to  point  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  in  such  communities  as  these  that  a  Washington,  a 
Jackson,  a  Taylor,  a  Lee,  and  a  host  of  others,  acquired  those 
qualities  which  enabled  them,  in  the  position  in  which  their 
country  placed  them,  to  add  such  undying  lustre  to  the  American 
name.  It  was  in  such  communities  that  men  like  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Monroe,  Polk,  Lowndes,  Calhoun,  Clay,  Macon,  Mar 
shall,  Taney  and  many  others  whom  I  could  mention,  acquired 
those  characteristics  which  their  countrymen,  both  North  and 
South,  instinctively  discerned  whenever  they  were  "called  upon 
to  face  some  awful  moment  to  which  Heaven  has  joined  great 
issues,  good  or  bad,  for  human  kind." 

Another  reason  why  this  statue  should  be  erected  to  his  mem 
ory  is  that  it  is  due  to  him  for  his  intellectual  contributions  to 
the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Apart  from  his  career  as  a  states 
man  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  he  was  conspicuous 


66 

for  his  nationality  in  maintaining  the  independence  of  his  coun 
try  among  the  powers  of  the  world;  apart  from  his  seven  years,, 
service  in  a  Cabinet  office,  where  his  powerful  mind  impressed 
itself  on  the  organization  and  practical  operations  of  the  execu 
tive  department  of  the  Government;  apart  from  his  long  years 
of  service  as  Vice- President  of  the  United  States;  apart  from 
that  unparalleled  parliamentary  career  in  the  United  States  Sen 
ate,  where,  opposed  by  those  giants  of  debate,  the  mighty  Web 
ster  of  the  North,  and  Clay  of  the  West,  backed  by  other 
Senators  gifted  with  talents  of  the  highest  order,  he,  single- 
handed,  maintained  his  position  in  those  grand  orations,  one  of 
which  the  best  of  judges  has  pronounced  "unsurpassed  by  any 
recorded  in  modern  or  ancient  times,  not  even  excepting  that 
of  the  great  Athenian,  on  the  crown;"  putting  I  say,  out  of 
view  all  his  achievements  and  measures  as  a  public  man,  consti 
tuting  as  they  do  some  of  the  brightest  chapters  in  the  history 
of  this  country,  he  has  left,  in  his  writings,  considered  as  the 
productions  of  an  author,  a  legacy  which  will  perpetuate  the 
sway  of  his  immortal  thought  over  the  minds  of  men.  In  these 
writings  he  has  given  to  the  world  profound  studies  and  original 
views  upon  the  principles  of  government  and  free  institutions; 
the  deepest  analysis  and  the  most  systematic  classification  of 
those  universal  laws  which,  hidden  from  ordinary  observation, 
operate  silently  on  human  society  and  influence  the  fate  of  na 
tions  in  all  ages  of  the  world. 

His  published  speeches,  although  made  upon  the  political 
measures  and  the  national  policies  of  the  particular  time,  are 
philosophical  expositions  of  the  genius  and  structure  and  prin 
ciples  of  the  American  Constitution,  replete  with  the  deepest 
wisdom  and  the  most  unerring  sagacity.  Each  speech  is  a  con 
sistent  chapter  of  a  continuous  discourse,  a  harmonious  part  of 
a  connected  system  of  political  science,  which  will  place  their 
author  among  those  great  spirits  who  bless  and  instruct  man 
kind  long  after  the  celebrity  of  politicians  and  statesmen  has 
faded  from  remembrance. 

But  there  is  a  third  reason  why  South  Carolina  should  have 
on  her  soil  a  statue  to  Calboun,  and  that  is  his  stainless  purity 
of  life,  his  sterling  virtue  and  integrity  of  character.  This, 
more  than  any  other,  was  the  cause  of  his  unparalleled  hold 
upon  the  love,  reverence  and  trust  of  his  people.  With  ample 


67 

opportunity  to  promote  his  private  interests  in  the  high  trusts 
he  held,  he  was  as  fastidious  as  Washington,  and  never  accepted 
gifts.  So  simple  was  his  life,  so  unostentatious  and  frugal  in 
his  habits  that  he  was  never  incumbered  in  his  public  duties  by 
the  thought  of  a  benefaction  even  from  his  friends.  His  was 
the  greatness  of  a  soul  which,  fired  with  love  of  virtue,  conse 
crated  itself  to  truth  and  duty,  and,  with  unfaltering  confidence 
in  God,  was  ever  ready  to  be  immolated  in  the  cause  of  right 
and  country.  This  moral  excellence,  this  uprightness  of  motive 
and  action,  was  the  granite  foundation  of  his  character,  under 
lying  and  supporting  the  splendid  superstructure  of  his  noble  and 
exalted  qualities  of  genius,  eloquence,  wisdom  and  patriotism. 
The  people  of  South  Carolina,  whatever  may  be  their  admira 
tion  of  brilliant  intellect  and  the  achievements  of  statesman 
ship,  have  never  yet  put  their  country's  interest  and  honour  under 
the  leadership  of  any  one  unless  they  had  confidence  in  his 
moral  superiority.  In  erecting  this  statue  to  Calhoun  they  feel 
that  they  render  and  perpetuate  their  homage  to  the  majesty  of 
moral  rectitude. 

And  now,  fellow  citizens,  I  must  take  him  away  from  your 
hearts,  where  he  is  enshrined  in  choicest  affection  and  reverence; 
and  bear  him  before  those  stern,  ultimate  judges — history,  pos 
terity,  country  and  God.  These  are  to  take  the  exact  measure 
of  his  life,  his  services,  his  character  and  his  motives,  without 
any  favor  or  affection,  and  with  the  inflexible  tests  and  scrutiny 
of  justice. 

In  the  early  history  of  our  Kepublic  two  different  powers  were 
in  the  presence  of  each  other — the  principle  of  local  State 
sovereignty  and  that  of  National  union.  Although  both  of 
these  powers  were  to  be  found  in  the  embryo  of  our  political 
system,  they  existed  in  confusion  and  without  precise  legal  defi 
nition,  both  having  claims  to  urge  and  facts  to  allege  in  support 
of  their  respective  pretension  to  supremacy.  The  principle  of 
State  sovereignty  was  the  first  brought  into  operation,  and, 
therefore,  preceded  the  other  in  legal  recognition  and  actual 
predominance.  Previous  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
the  colonies  were  each  a  distinct  political  community;  each  had 
its  own  separate  political  organization,  the  legislation  of  which 
extended  no  farther  than  its  own  territorial  limits.  The  only 
political  bond  which  held  them  in  union  was  the  sovereignty  of 


68 

the  British  nation.  When  they  threw  that  off,  the  States  had 
no  common  Government.  The  general  sovereignty  over  them 
as  a  whole  disappeared  and  ceased  to  exist,  at  least  in  visible  and 
legal  embodiment  of  organized  power,  and  passed  into  the  sev 
eral  States,  which  had  become  each  independent  and  sovereign 
in  its  own  right.  The  Constitution  was  framed  by  delegates 
elected  by  the  Legislatures.  It  was  the  work  of  the  sovereign 
States,  as  independent,  separate  communities.  It  was  ratified 
by  conventions  of  these  separate  States,  each  acting  for  itself. 
By  this  Constitution  certain  well-defined  and  specified  powers 
were  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government;  but  it  expressly  de 
clared  that  "  the  powers  not  herein  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  to  the  States,  are 
reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people/' 

If  the  constitutional  history  of  the  United  States  had  stopped 
with  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  by  the  original 
thirteen  States,  it  would  hardly  be  questioned  that  this  Govern 
ment  was  a  Government  of  sovereign  States  with  every  attribute 
of  State  sovereignty  retained  in  its  system.  But  the  law  of 
development  applies  to  human  society  as  much  as  to  any  other 
created  being.  In  all  nations  in  which  there  are  any  stirrings 
of  constitutional  life  there  is  more  than  one  fundamental  princi 
ple  or  power.  These  several  principles  or  elements  are  not  all 
developed  at  the  same  time  or  in  equal  degree.  Events  and  in 
fluences  will  develop  one  element  into  ascendency;  subsequent 
conditions  and  events  may  cause  a  different  element  to  shoot 
forward  and  overcome  the  others.  Now,  although  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  and  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  were  all  based  upon  the  as 
sumption  of  the  independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  several 
States,  yet  in  point  of  historical  fact  the  inhabitants  of  the 
American  colonies,  both  before  and  after  independence,  were,  in 
many  important  respects,  one  people.  These  colonies,  as  one 
body  politic,  were  one  people  in  being  subject  to  the  authority 
of  the  British  sovereign;  they  were  one  people  as  being  subject 
in  their  civil  and  social  relations  to  the  common  law  of  England; 
they  were  one  people  respecting  their  rights  as  Englishmen, 
which,  to  the  honor  of  England,  were  planted  by  their  cradles 
in  the  infancy  of  their  colonial  existence;  they  were  one  people 
in  language,  in  blood,  in  manners,  and  especially  in  being  sub- 


JOHN    C.  CALHOUN 

in 


£331 


69 

jected  to  a  common  oppression  and  thrilled  by  the  intrinsic  glory 
of  a  noble  cause  into  a  unity  of  American  patriotism.  Although 
these  facts  may  not  be  found  in  State  papers  and  records  of  legis 
lation,  they  shot  their  roots  deep  into  the  thought,  the  belief, 
the  instinct  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  and  sometimes 
found  expression  in  public  documents,  for  instance:  ''When,  in 
the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one  people 
to  dissolve,"  &c.,  &c. 

And,  whilst  it  is  true  that  when  this  national  sovereignty  of 
the  British  Government  was  overthrown,  there  was  no  organiza 
tion  of  national  power  for  the  time  over  the  whole  people,  yet 
it  is  also  true  that  even  in  the  absence  of  such  power  those 
States  were  never  for  one  instant  disunited;  that,  with  respect 
to  foreign  relations  and  all  matters  touching  their  relations  to 
each  other,  the  sovereign  power  was  ever  exercised  by  the  States 
united  and  never — not  in  a  single  instance — by  a  several  State. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  moral,  social  and 
material  forces  which  have  always  been  more  powerful  in  mould 
ing  the  institutions,  in  determining  the  destinies  of  nations  than 
external  legal  forms,  combined  to  increase  the  power  and  mag 
nify  the  importance  of  the  General  Government  of  the  Union 
at  the  expense  of  that  o£*the  particular  government  of  the 
States.  AVhen  independence  was  first  achieved  the  original 
States  lay  stretched  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  sparsely  peopled, 
separated  by  vast  wildernesses,  with  no  means  of  internal  com 
munication  and  trade,  except  by  stages,  pack-horses  and  sumter- 
mules  on  land,  and  flat-boats,  rafts  and  bateaus  on  the  water. 
Since  then  the  locomotive  and  the  steamboat  not  only  annihilate 
distance,  but,  "'like  enormous  shuttlecocks,  shoot  across  the 
thousand  various  threads"  of  disconnected  sections,  localities, 
interests  and  influences,  and  bind  them  into  a  web,  while  the 
electric  telegraph  transmits  to  every  part  of  the  country,  at  the 
same  moment,  the  same  intelligence,  thus  uniting  the  minds  of 
a  vast  population  in  the  same  thought  and  emotion. 

But  a  cause  more  potent  than  any  yet  mentioned  has  operated 
to  determine  the  character  and  tendency  of  our  political  system. 
I  refer  to  the  acquisition  by  the  Federal  Government  of  the  vast 
territory  embraced  in  the  Louisiana  purchase,  and  that  ceded 
by  Spain  and  Mexico  to  the  United  States.  These  territories, 

far  exceeding  in  area  that  of  the  original  thirteen  States,  be- 
10 


70 

longed  exclusively  to  the  Federal  Government.*  No  separate 
State  Government  had  the  slightest  jurisdiction  upon  one  foot 
of  the  soil  of  that  vast  domain.  The  public  lands  were  sur 
veyed  by  officers  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  titles  to  them 
were  conveyed  by  the  Federal  Government  in  its  character  of 
private  proprietor  as  well  as  of  public  sovereign.  The  popula 
tion  who  settled  these  territories  had  no  political  rights  save 
those  imparted  to  them  by  the  Federal  Government.  Their  very 
limited  powers  of  self-government  were  enjoyed  under  territo 
rial  constitutions  framed  and  prescribed  for  them  by  the  Fed 
eral  Congress,  and  when  they  became  States  it  was  by  the  per 
mission  of  Congress,  which  admitted  them  under  such  con 
ditions  and  terms  as  it  deemed  proper  under  the  Constitution. 
It  is  true  that  as  soon  as  these  new  States  were  admitted  they 
shared  equally  with  the  original  States  in  the  general  sovereign 
powers  of  the  whole,  and  the  sovereignty  reserved  to  each .  But 
whilst  this  was  true  in  constitutional  theory,  the  actual  histori 
cal  fact  was  that  when  the  forces  which  had  been  so  long  agitat 
ing  the  country  culminated  in  war,  the  relation  of  the  States  to 
the  Federal  Government  had  become  almost  the  reverse  of  what 
it  was  at  the  birth  of  the  Republic.  In  1789  the  States  were 
the  creators  of  the  Federal  Government;  in  1881  the  Federal 
Government  was  the  creator  of  a  large  majority  of  the  States. 
In  1789  the  Federal  Government  had  derived  all  the  powers  del 
egated  to  it  by  the  Constitution  from  the  States;  in  1861  a  ma 
jority  of  the  States  derived  all  their  powers  and  attributes  as 
States  from  Congress  under  the  Constitution. 

In  1789  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  citizens  of  States 
originally  sovereign  and  independent;  in  1861  a  vast  majority 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  citizens  of  States  that 
were  originally  mere  dependencies  of  the  Federal  Government, 
which  was  the  author  and  giver  of  their  political  being.  With 
all  these  forces  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  backed  by  a  majority 
of  State  Governments,  with  their  reserved  powers,  with  a  very 
great  preponderance  of  population,  resources  and  wealth,  it  was 
a  natural  consequence  that  the  unity  and  integrity  of  the  United 
States  as  a  sovereign  nation  should  be  established  on  the  battle- 

*The  great  northwest  territory,  then  a  wilderness,  out  of  which  powerful  States 
have  been  subsequently  formed,  was  ceded  by  Virginia  to  the  United  States  before 
the  Constitution  was  adopted. 


71 

field;  that  its  Government  should  come  out  of  the  conflict  with 
a  prestige  and  power  greater  perhaps  than  any  on  earth;  and 
that  the  eleven  minority  States,  after  a  resistance  as  heroic  as 
any  recorded  in  the  annals  of  Greece  and  Rome,  should  succumb 
to  overwhelming  forces. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  go  over  the  policy  of  Reconstruc 
tion.  It  was  the  offspring  of  misconception  and  distrust  of  the 
Southern  people.  Its  theory  was  that  the  Federal  success  in 
arms  over  the  South  was  only  a  partial  one;  that  the  sentiments, 
passions  and  aims  of  the  Southern  people  were  still,  and  would 
continue  to  be,  rebellious  to  the  authority  and  hostile  to  the 
policy  of  the  Nation;  that  the  termination  of  the  war  having 
put  an  end  to  the  absolute  military  control,  it  became  necessary 
to  substitute  another  organization  which,  though  not  purely 
military,  would  be  no  less  eifectual  in  its  function  of  repression 
and  force.  Its  unmistakable  purpose  was  the  reversal  of  every 
natural,  social  and  political  relation  on  which,  I  will  not  say, 
the  civilization  of  the  South,  but  of  the  world  and  of  the  whole 
Union,  rested.  But  in  process  of  time  a  large  portion  of  the 
dominant  section  saw  not  only  the  odious  injustice  of  the  sys 
tem  fastened  upon  the  South,  but  the  danger  to  the  whole  coun 
try  which  its  maintenance  threatened.  Then  followed  a  course 
of  magnanimity  on  the  part  of  the  Northern  people,  unexampled 
in  the  annals  of  civil  war  and  accepted  by  the  South  in  a  spirit 
not  less  magnanimous  and  great-hearted.  The  result  was  the 
full  and  equal  restoration  of  the  Southern  States,  with  all  their 
rights  under  the  Constitution,  upon  the  one  condition  that  they 
would  recognize,  as  elements  of  their  new  political  life,  the  valid 
ity  of  the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amendments 
to  the  Constitution,  guaranteeing  and  establishing  the  indissolu- 
bility  of  the  American  Union  and  the  universality  of  American 
freedom.  The  disfranchisements  and  disqualifications  imposed 
in  an  hour  of  passion  and  excitement  upon  a  mistaken  theory  of 
public  necessity,  and  unwisely  retained  from  a  lingering  preju 
dice  and  distrust,  have  been  in  the  main  removed,  or  have  ceased 
to  apply  to  the  majority  of  the  Southern  population  Those 
which  yet  remain  on  the  statute  book  are  hardly  defended  b> 
the  public  sentiment  of  the  Northern  States,  and  must  ere  long 
be  offered  upon  the  altar  of  the  free  and  equal  citizenship  of 
the  Republic. 


72 

From  that  time  we  have  seen  those  States,  by  their  faithful 
adherence  to  this  pledge,  steadily  advancing  year  by  year,  in 
their  right  of  self-government,  taking  their  place  with  larger 
numbers  and  wider  influence  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and 
doing  all  this  with  a  temper,  moderation  and  patriotism  that  is 
fast  commanding  a  general  belief  among  the  mass  of  the  North 
ern  people  that  the  full  and  equal  presence  of  the  South,  accord 
ing  to  the  measure  of  her  population  and  resources  in  every  de 
partment  of  the  Government,  so  far  from  being  a  danger  to  the 
national  security,  is  a  contribution  to  its  highest  and  best  in 
terests. 

I  have  prefaced  what  I  have  to  say  of  Mr.  Calhoun  with  this 
brief  sketch  of  the  controversy  in  which  he  bore  a  part,  because 
I  believe  if  he  were  here  to-day  and  could  see  his  own  South 
Carolina,  the  land  of  Rutledge,  Moultrie,  Laurens,  Hayne, 
Lowndes,  Sumter  and  Marion,  restored,  largely  through  the 
the  efforts  of  her  lion-hearted  Hampton,  to  her  proud  position 
of  dignity  and  equality  in  the  Union,  he  would  say  to  her  that 
the  great  controversy  being  closed  at  the  ballot-box,  closed  by 
the  arbitrament  of  war,  and  above  all,  closed  by  the  Constitu 
tion,  always  deemed  sacred  and  inviolable  by  her,  she  sacrifices 
no  principle  and  falsifies  no  sentiment  in  accepting  the  verdict — 
determined,  henceforth,  to  seek  the  happiness  of  her  people, 
their  greatness  and  glory,  in  the  greatness  and  glory  of  the 
American  Republic. 

He  would  have  told  her,  if  such  counsel  were  necessary,  that 
a  people  who,  in  form  surrender  and  profess  to  submit,  yet  con 
tinue  to  secretly  nurse  old  resentments  and  past  animosities  and 
cherish  delusive  schemes  of  reaction  and  revenge  will,  sooner  or 
later,  degenerate  into  baseness  and  treachery  and  treason.  He 
would  say  that  a  heroic  and  liberty-loving  State,  like  South  Car 
olina,  should  cherish  for  the  great  Republic,  of  which  she  is  part, 
that  ardent,  genuine  patriotism  which  is  the  life  and  soul  and 
light  of  all  heroism  and  liberty.  Ah,  fellow-citizens,  had  he 
lived,  his  great  talents  would  have  been,  as  they  had  ever  been 
before,  directed  to  save  this  people  from  the  horrors  of  disunion 
and  war.  In  this  I  am  confirmed  by  one  whom  the  South  placed 
at  the  head  of  her  great  movement,  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis.  He 
says:  "  It  was  during  the  progress  of  these  memorable  contro 
versies  that  the  South  lost  its  most  trusted  leader  and  the  Senate 


73 

its  greatest  and  purest  statesman.  He  was  taken  from  us  like  a 
summer-dried  fountain,  when  our  need  was  greatest,  when  his 
intellectual  power,  his  administrative  talent,  his  love  of  peace, 
his  devotion  to  the  Constitution,  might  have  averted  collision." 

In  the  brief  compass  of  this  address  I  cannot  undertake  to 
review  the  incidents  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  early  youth.  He  had 
arrived  nearly  at  the  age  of  manhood  ere  his  school  life  began, 
but  his  constant  contact  with  men,  his  access  to  books,  and  the 
social  life  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  gave  him  opportu 
nities  which  were  well  calculated  to  develop  those  qualities  in  a 
gifted  and  aspiring  youth  which  would  fit  him  for  a  life  of  use 
fulness  and  honorable  distinction.  He  had  thought  profoundly 
upon  the  nature  of  man  and  human  society.  He  had  studied 
the  science  of  government,  its  origin,  its  forms  and  its  adminis 
tration.  He  read  the  best  treatises  on  politics,  ancient  and 
modern,  within  his  reach,  and  made  himself  conversant  with 
the  constitutions  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  British  system  and 
the  polity  of  modern  States.  When  he  entered  Congress,  there 
fore,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years,  his  mind  was  stored  and 
fortified  with  principles  which  were  the  guide  of  his  political 
conduct. 

He  rejected  alike  the  dogma  of  the  sovereignty  of  monarchies 
and  aristocracies  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  the  shallow 
fiction  of  the  social  contract  as  the  foundation  of  government. 
He  asserted  boldly  that  society  and  government  both  were  of 
Divine  ordination;  that  the  Supreme  Creator  and  Ruler  of  all 
had  in  His  infinite  wisdom  assigned  to  man  the  social  and  polit 
ical  state  as  the  best  adapted  to  the  development  of  the  moral 
and  intellectual  faculties  and  capacities  with  which  He  had  en 
dowed  him.  The  fundamental  principles  of  government- 
please  remember,  fellow-citizens,  that  I  am  giving  you  his  views, 
and  not  my  own — he  found  in  the  wants  and  feelings  and  ten 
dencies  of  man,  wrought  there  by  the  hand  of  God,  which,  in 
their  development,  assumed  the  attributes  and  functions  of  for 
mal  governments.  The  external  forms  and  organizations  de 
signed  to  prevent  the  tendency  of  government  to  disorder  and 
injustice,  called  constitutions,  are  the  contrivances  of  men,  who 
are  left  to  perfect  by  their  reason  and  free  will  the  government 
that  the  Infinite  has  ordained,  just  as  He  created  the  material 
laws  of  the  earth,  and  left  man  to  impress  it  with  his  own  per- 


74 

sonality.  The  right  to  prescribe  these  constitutions  and  to 
coerce  society  into  submission  to  them  is  sovereignty.  That 
power  in  a  nation  which  holds  this  supreme  authority  in  tKe 
last  resort,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal  to  a  higher  power, 
is  the  sovereign  power  of  that  nation.  Where  that  supreme, 
absolute  and  ultimate  power  resides  is  a  question  which  has  not 
only  challenged  the  speculations  of  philosophers  in  the  closet 
and  statesmen  in  the  national  councils,  but  has  also  been  debated 
on  bloody  fields  in  arms.  On  this  question  Mr.  Calhoun  was, 
from  profound  conviction,  always  a  Republican  and  an  Ameri 
can  Democrat.  He  maintained  that  the  people  were  the  legiti 
mate  source  of  all  political  power;  that  governments  ought  to 
be  created  "by  them  and  for  them;"  that  powers  conferred 
upon  government  are  not  surrendered,  but  delegated,  and  as 
such  are  held  in  trust  and  not  absolutely,  and  can  be 
rightfully  exercised  only  in  furtherance  of  the  objects  for  which 
they  are  delegated;  and  in  order  to  guarantee  the  responsibility 
of  the  rulers  to  the  ruled  and  to  secure  the  control  of  those 
electing  over  those  elected,  universal  suffrage  is  the  primary  and 
indispensable  foundation  of  Republican  governments. 

Fellow-citizens,  are  these  mere  common-place  truisms?  They 
were  not  so  in  his  day.  At  that  time  disparagement  and  dis 
trust  of  Republican  governments  were  prevalent.  Alexander 
Hamilton,  the  founder  of  that  school  of  politics  to  which  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  opposed,  and  whose  disciples  have  always  opposed 
his  doctrines,  was  not  in  favor  of  a  Republican  government. 

It  is  due  to  this  eminent  American  statesman  and  ardent 
patriot  to  say  that  at  the  close  of  the  Convention  he  expressed 
his  anxiety  that  every  member  should  sign  the  constitution, 
"  although  no  man's  ideas  were  more  remote  from  the  plan  than 
his  own  were  known  to  be.  The  question  was  between  anarchy 
and  confusion  on  one  side,  and  the  chance  of  good  to  be  ex 
pected  from  the  plan  on  the  other. "  He  afterwards  advocated 
its  ratification  in  the  Federalist,  and  the  action  of  New  York 
was  no  doubt  brought  about  by  his  powerful  influence.  And 
yet  he  to  the  very  last  expressed  his  doubts  of  what  he  called 
"the  experiment/' 

He  did  not  think  it  could  be  established  successfully  in  Amer 
ica.  In  the  debates  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Fed 
eral  Constitution  he  openly  avowed  his  opinion  that  the  mon- 


75 

archy  of  England  was  the  best  Government  in  the  world;  that 
the  aristocracy  of  that  nation  was  a  most  noble  institution  and 
that  her  hereditary  king  was  the  only  model  of  good  executive 
government;  and  he  expressed  his  doubts  that  anything  short  of 
it  would  do  for  America.  As  he  was  a  classical  scholar  he  no 
doubt  derived  these  doubts  from  the  history  of  ancient  and 
modern  Republics.  Aristotle  declared  that  the  worst  of  all 
tyrannies  was  the  tyranny  of  Democracy;  Thucydides  often 
dwelt  upon  the  fact  that  the  evils  and  vices  of  society  always 
rose  to  the  ascendant  among  the  Athenian  demos  ;  while  Tacitus 
and  Livy  made  frequent  references  to  the  disorganizing  and 
demoralizing  influences  of  the  Eoman  populace.  Even  Mon 
tesquieu  and  Guizot  and  Gibbon  and  Hume,  and  those  eloquent 
Liberals,  Burke,  Mackintosh  and  Macauley,  have  all  expressed 
apprehensions  as  to  the  permanence  and  the  blessings  of  pure 
Democratic  governments.  But  Mr.  Calhoun's  faith  in  man  and 
his  capacity  for  self-government  under  proper  conditions  never 
for  an  instant  in  his  life  deserted  him.  Nothing  in  the  works 
of  theological  writers  can  be  found  stronger  than  his  repeated 
assertion  of  the  superintendence  of  Divine  Providence  over  the 
government  of  man.  He  also  firmly  believed  that  the  voice  of 
a  great  people  uttered  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  community 
through  organs  so  constituted  as  to  suppress  the  voice  of  selfish 
factions  and  interests,  and  to  express  the  sentiment  of  the  entire 
community  was,  without  impiety,  the  voice  of  God. 

I  know  of  nothing  in  Mr.  Calhoun's  career  more  striking  than 
what  occurred  on  the  very  threshold  of  his  public  service. 

Mr.  Clay  more  than  once  has  declared  that  in  no  Congress  of 
which  he  had  knowledge  has  there  been  assembled  such  a  galaxy 
of  eminent  and  able  men  as  were  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  that  Congress  which  declared  war  against  England  in 
1812.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  elected  to  that  Congress  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven  years.  He  had  been  admitted  to  the  Bar  only  two 
years  before.  Yet  this  unknown  young  man,  and  obscure  at 
torney  from  an  obscure  country  village,  a  stranger  to  the  elegant 
accomplishments  and  the  graces  of  scholarship,  before  he  had 
made  a  speech,  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  these  distinguished 
and  brilliant  men,  as  their  equal  and  even  their  superior,  and 
maintained  it  with  increasing  power  and  ever-widening  fame  to 
the  end.  In  the  light  of  after  events  the  cause  of  this  extra- 


76 

ordinary  circumstance  could  be  easily  discerned.  In  the  pres 
ence  of  a  great  impending  crisis,  full  of  solemn  import  to  men 
of  sense  and  virtue,  whose  extent  the  most  far-sighted  cannot 
fully  measure,  and  before  whose  dangers  the  most  resolute  nat 
urally  quail;  when  the  voice  of  faction  is  hushed,  and  rivalries 
and  animosities  cease;  in  such  a  crisis  demanding  immediate 
action,  mastery  and  leadership  go  of  their  own  accord  to  the 
master  spirit,  to  the  man  of  transcendent  intellect,  bravery  of 
soul,  promptness  of  decision,  energy  of  action,  all  strengthened, 
sustained  and  vivified  by  an  ardent  and  disinterested  patriotism. 
Just  such  a  momentuous  crisis  was  upon  that  Congress  of 
1811-^12,  when  Mr.  Calhoun  took  his  seat,  and  the  qualities  just 
mentioned  found  their  embodiment  in  his  character. 

From  the  day  that  our  Government  was  established  our  rela 
tions  with  foreign  nations  were  troubled  and  uncertain.  Soon 
after  the  Constitution  was  put  into  force  a  mighty  war  broke 
out  between  France  and  England,  during  which  both  belliger 
ents  disregarded  the  rights  of  the  United  States  and  their  in 
terests  as  an  independent  nation.  Washington  and  his  succes 
sors,  who  were  statesmen  in  the  Revolution,  anxious  to  secure 
our  as  yet  untried  political  institutions  from  the  hazards  of  war 
until  they  could  be  settled  and  established,  patiently  bore  these 
wrongs,  although  they  would  have  justified  a  resort  to  war. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  policy,  when  these  wrongs  reached 
to  the  spoilation  of  our  ships  and  the  seizure  of  our  citizens, 
the  United  States  Government  withdrew  our  commerce  and  our 
citizens  from  the  ocean  and  appealed  to  the  justice  of  these 
nations  to  cease  their  outrages.  Unheeding  these  appeals,  the 
Government  of  England  pursued  a  course  which  amounted  to 
a  desolating  war  upon  American  commerce.  American  vessels, 
laden  with  the  product  of  American  industry  and  skill,  were 
seized  in  our  own  ports  and  confiscated,  while  three  thousand 
American  seamen  were  seized  and  imprisoned,  and  made  to  serve 
on  English  men-of-war.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  agitation 
caused  by  these  wrongs  that  the  Congress  of  1811  met.  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  placed  second  on  the  most  important  committee, 
that  of  Foreign  Relations.  He  was  at  once  its  animating  spirit 
and  the  mainspring  of  its  action,  and  under  his  influence  it  soon 
submitted  a  report,  said  to  have  been  written  by  him,  which 
recommended  immediate  preparations  for  war  with  Great  Britain. 


77 

In  the  debate  that  followed  Mr.  Calhoun  made  a  speech  in  its 
support,  which  stamped  him  as  an  orator  and  a  statesman  of  the 
first  rank,  and  made  him  the  foremost  champion  of  the  war  and 
the  author  and  supporter  of  the  measures  for  its  vigorous  prose 
cution.  The  effect  of  his  speech  in  arousing  the  country  to  a 
sense  of  wrong  and  danger,  and  to  the  vindication  of  our  national 
honor  and  threatened  independence,  was  like  magic.  He  showed 
that  the  object  of  England  was  really  to  remand  the  United 
States  to  the  condition  of  commercial  dependency  which  existed 
in  her  colonial  state.  He  made  the  people  of  the  country  see 
that  the  simple  issue  was  war  or  submission  to  the  loss  of  inde 
pendence  and  nationality..  The  commanding  power  of  the  speech 
lay  in  the  intrinsic  force  and  the  grandeur  of  truth,  and  its 
eloquence  in  the  noble  utterances  which  appeal  to  the  moral 
sentiments  of  the  people  and  address  themselves  to  the  highest 
faculties  of  the  intellect  and  the  noblest  aspirations  of  the  heart. 
"/The  question,"  said  he,  "is  reduced  to  this  single  point  : 
Which  shall  we  do,  abandon  or  defend  our  maritime  rights  and 
the  personal  liberties  of  our  citizens  in  exercising  them  p  *  *  * 
The  gentleman  from  Virginia  is  at  a  loss  to  account  for  what  he 
calls  our  hatred  to  England.  He  asks  us  how  we  can  hate  the 
country  of  Locke,  of  Newton,  Hampden  and  Chatham;  a  coun 
try  having  the  same  language  and  customs  with  ourselves  and 
descending  from  a  common  ancestry.  If  we  have  so  much  to 
attach  us  to  that  country,  potent,  indeed,  must  be  the  cause 
which  has  overpowered  it.  *  *  *  But  the  gentleman  in  his 
eager  admiration  of  that  country  has  not  been  sufficiently 
guarded  in  liis  argument.  Has  he  reflected  011  the  cause  of  that 
admiration  ?  Has  he  examined  tho  reason  of  our  high  regard 
for  her  Chatham  ?  It  is  his  ardent  patriotism,  the  heroic  cour 
age  of  his  mind  that  could  not  brook  the  least  insult  or  injury 
offered  to  his  country,  but  thought  that  her  interest  and  honor 
ought  to  be  vindicated  at  every  hazard  and  expense.  I  hope 
that  when  called  upon  to  admire  we  shall  also  be  asked  to  imi 
tate.  I  hope  the  gentleman  does  not  wish  a  monopoly  of  those 
great  virtues  for  England.  *  *  *  Our  rights  are  vitally  at 
tacked.  *  *  *  The  only  alternative  is  war  or  degrada 
tion.  *  *  *  I  hope  the  decision  is  made  already  by  a 
higher  authority  than  the  voice  of  any  man.  It  is  not  for  the 
human  tongue  to  instill  the  sense  of  independence  and  honor* 


78 

This  is  the  work  of  nature,  a  generous  nature  that  disdains 
tame  submission  to  wrongs." 

What  he  said  was  true,,  but  it  is  the  prerogative  of  genius  to 
put  into  the  materialism  of  words  the  thoughts  which  lie  inar 
ticulate  in  the  consciousness  of  a  brave  people,  whose  heart 
leaps  in  spontaneous  sympathy  to  her  voice. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  to  this  audience  the  glorious  inci 
dents  of  that  war,  and  after  many  vicissitudes  of  reverses  arid 
success,  its  victorious  termination  and  its  effect  in  giving  to  the 
United  States  a  proud  and  established  position  of  dignity/ equal 
ity  and  power  among  the  nationalities  of  the  world. 

Nor  have  I  the  time  to  dwell  upon  the  measures  which  Mr. 
Calhoun  introduced  or  supported  during  his  service  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  which  terminated  in  1817,  or  of  his  services 
as  Secretary  of  War  under  President  Monroe,  or  as  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  United  States. 

Perhaps  a  better  idea  can  be  given  of  his  position  before  the 
country  during  that  period  by  restating  the  opinions  of  him  ex 
pressed  by  the  great  statesmen  of  that  day.  Mr.  Dallas,  who 
was  in  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Madison,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  said  Mr.  Calhoun  was  "the  young  Hercules  who  carried 
the  war  on  his  shoulders."  After  one  of  his  speeches  during 
this  service  in  the  House,  Mr.  G-rosvenor,  of  New  York,  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  distinguished  members  of  the  opposition, 
between  whom  and  Mr.  Calhoun  an  unpleasant  difference  had 
arisen  during  the  discussion  of  a  war  measure,  said  :  :<  I  have 
heard  the  able,  manly  and  constitutional  speech  of  the  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina."  Here  Mr.  Grosvenor  paused,  remember 
ing  this  personal  difference,  and  then  resumed  :  "  Mr.  Speaker, 
I  will  not  be  restrained  ;  no  barrier  shall  exist  which  I  shall  not 
leap  over  for  the  purpose  of  offering  to  that  gentleman  my 
thanks  for  the  judicious,  independent  and  national  course  which 
he  has  pursued  in  the  House  for  the  last  year,  and  particularly 
upon  the  subject  now  before  us.  Let  the  honorable  gentleman 
continue  with  the  same  manly  independence,  aloof  from  party 
views  and  local  prejudices,  to  pursue  the  great  interests  of  his 
country  and  fulfil  the  high  destiny  for  which  it  is  manifest  he 
was  born.  The  buzz  of  popular  applause  may  not  cheer  him  on 
his  way,  but  he  will  inevitably  arrive  at  a  happy  elevation  in  the 
view  of  his  country  and  the  world." 


79 

The  great  William  Pinckney,  of  Maryland,  who  was  also  a 
member  of  the  House,  upon  one  occasion  following  Mr.  Calhoun 
in  debate  on  the  same  side,  said  of  him  :  "The  strong  power 
of  genius,  from  a  higher  region  than  that  of  argument,  has 
thrown  on  the  subject  all  the  light  with  which  it  is  the  preroga 
tive  of  genius  to  invest  and  illuminate  everything." 

How  he  performed  the  duties  of  his  position  as  Secretary  of 
War  can  be  also  better  determined  in  the  same  way.  Henry 
Clay  said  of  him  :  "Such  was  the  high  estimate  I  formed  of 
his  transcendent  talents  that  if,  at  the  end  of  his  service  in  the 
executive  department  under  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  he 
had  been  called  to  the  highest  office  of  the  Government  I  should 
have  felt  perfectly  assured  that  under  his  auspices  the  honor  and 
prosperity  and  the  glory  of  our  country  would  have  been  safely 
placed." 

John  Quincy  Adams,  who  was  his  colleague  in  Monroe's  Cab 
inet,  thus  spoke  of  him  before  his  judgment  was  clouded  by 
personal  resentment  :  "Calhoun  thinks  for  himself,  indepen 
dent  of  all  the  rest,  with  sound  judgment,  quick  discrimination 
and  keen  observation.  He  supports  his  opinion,  too,  with  pow 
erful  eloquence.  *  *  *  Mr.  Calhoun  is  a  man  of  fair  and 
candid  mind,  of  honorable  principles,  of  clear  and  quick  under 
standing,  of  cool  self-possession,  of  enlarged  philosophical  views 
and  of  ardent  patriotism.  He  is  above  all  sectional  and  factious 
prejudices  more  than  any  other  statesman  of  the  Union  with 
whom  I  have  ever  .acted."  (J.  Q.  Adams's  Diary.) 

Judge  Story  said  of  him  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  :  "I  have  great 
admiration  for  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  think  few  men  have  more  en 
larged  and  liberal  views  of  the  nation."  Mr.  Webster  at  the 
same  time  wrote  to  his  brother :  "I  hope  all  New  England  will 
support  Mr.  Calhoun  for  the  Vice-Presidency.  He  is  a  true  man 
and  will  do  good  to  the  country  in  that  situation."  He  was 
elected  to  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  New  England,  with  the  sin 
gle  exception  of  Connecticut,  and  one  vote  from  New  Hamp. 
shire,  united  in  the  overwhelming  majority  that  carried  him  to 
the  Vice-Presidential  chair. 

A  brilliant  and  able  Carolina  statesman,  on  whose  shoulders  Mr. 
Calhoun's  mantle  had  worthily  fallen,  and  would  have  been 
worthily  borne  but  for  the  cutting  short  of  his  career  by  death, 
said  that  the  war  of  1812  was  the  turning-point  in  the  history 


80 

of  the  world,  giving,  as  it  did  to  the  United  States,  indepen 
dence  abroad  as  the  Eevolution  gave  them  independence  at 
home  ;  and  that  Calhoun's  course  in  that  war  would  never  fail 
of  the  admiration  and  applause  of  future  times. 

But  Mr.  Calhoun's  career  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  did 
more  than  give  him  renown  as  a  statesman  preeminent  for  his 
nationality.  The  experience  of  its  harsh  trials,  its  obstacles,  re 
verses,  disappointments,  followed  by  despondency  subsiding  into 
apathy,and  from  that  into  dissensions  ;  the  ruined  trade  and  de 
preciated  currency  and  paralyzed  industries  which  it  caused  ;  the 
numerous  dangers  of  utter  discomfiture,  from  which  the  escapes 
seemed,  and  perhaps  really  were,  hair-breadth^  made  deep  and 
lasting  impressions  on  his  mind,  the  influence  of  which  may  be 
seen  in  his  sentiments  and  feeling  and  action,  through  the  whole 
course  of  his  subsequent  career  as  a  statesman.  For  special 
reasons  hereafter  to  be  disclosed,  I  ask  your  attention  to  one  of 
the  principles  which  that  war  fixed  in  his  mind  and  interfused 
with  the  very  elements  of  his  soul.  I  will  state  it  in  his  own 
words:  "The  chief  object  for  which  the  Constitution  was 
formed  was  to  give  the  General  Government  power,  security  and 
respectability  abroad.  In  our  relations  with  foreign  countries, 
where  strength  of  government  and  national  security  are  most 
required,  the  powers  of  our  Government  are  undivided.  In 
those  exterior  relations — abroad — this  Government  is  the  sole 
and  exclusive  representative  of  the  united  majesty,  sovereignty 
and  power  of  the  States  constituting  this  great  and  glorious 
Union.  To  the  rest  of  the  world  we  are  one.  Neither  State  nor 
State  Government  is  known  beyond  our  borders." 

In  that  great  work  upon  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
some  of  the  pages  of  which  were  wet  with  ink  but  a  short  time 
before  he  expired,  he  repeats  this  principle.  Speaking  of  the 
two  great  divisions  of  Federal  power,  he  says  :  "  One  of  them 
embraces  all  the  powers  pertaining  to  the  relations  of  the  United 
States  with  the  rest  of  the  wor]d.  *  *  *  From  the  De 
claration  of  Independence  to  the  present  time,  in  all  the  changes 
through  which  we  have  passed,  the  Union  has  had  exclusive 
charge  of  this  division  of  powers."  Again,  speaking  of  the 
United  States  being  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  except 
in  their  united  character,  he  says  :  "  Abroad,  to  the  rest  of  the 


81      . 

world,  they  are  but  one.  It  is  only  at  home,  in  their  interior 
relations,  that  they  are  many." 

There  was  another  principle  which  formed  one  of  the  founda 
tion  stones  of  his  political  creed.  It  is  that  when  a  nation  is  in 
a  state  of  war,  or  preparing  for  war,  whenever  it  undertakes  to 
protect  the  rights  of  its  people,  or  to  preserve  their  indepen 
dence  and  honor  from  violations,  injustice  and  oppression,  or 
invasion  of  another  nation,  that  Government  has  a  legitimate 
right  to  the  full  command  of  all  the  resources  of  the  commu 
nity.  He  lays  down  this  principle  in  his  Disquisition  on  Gov 
ernment  in  the  following  terse  words:  "  When  this,"  (i.  e., 
national  security,)  "is  at  stake,  every  other  consideration  must 
yield  to  it.  Self-preservation  is  the  supreme  law,  as  well  with 
communities  as  with  individuals  ;  and  hence  the  danger  of  with 
holding  from  Government  the  full  command  of  the  resources  of 
the  entire  State."  This  principle  he  insists  upon,  that  Govern 
ment,  in  order  to  fulfil  the  end  of  protecting  its  citizens  from 
dangers  from  without  and  the  devastations  of  war,  must  have 
and  must  exercise  powers  sufficient  to  call  forth  the  entire  re 
sources  of  the  community,  and  be  prepared  at  all  times  to  com 
mand  them  promptly  in  every  emergency  that  may  arise." 

I  have  called  attention  to  these  principles  not  only  on  account 
of  their  vital  importance,  but  for  another  reason.  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  has  been  charged  with  gross  inconsistency  of  conduct  at 
this  time  with  the  course  pursued  by  him  at  a  later  epoch  in  his 
life  upon  the  subject  of  a  protective  tariff,  internal  improve 
ments  and  a  national  bank.  These  measures  may  be  said  to 
have  virtually  originated  in  the  war,  for  the  conditions  and  dis 
orders  of  war  continue  long  in  a  body  politic  after  terms  of  peace 
are  entered  into  and  proclaimed.  The  questions  which  then  agi 
tated  men's  minds  and  upon  which  political  parties  arranged 
themselves  in  support  and  opposition,  were  not  questions  of 
internal  policy;  they  related  exclusively  to  the  National  security, 
growing  out  of  the  state  of  our  external  relations.  Mr.  Calhoun 
advocated  in  1816  the  protection  of  manufactures  "as  a  means 
of  National  defence  and  protection  against  dangers  from 
abroad,"  with  which  we  were  at  that  time  imminently  threat 
ened.  For  the  same  reason  he  advocated  a  bank  and  the  adop 
tion  of  an  improved  system  of  internal  communication;  and  the 
constitutional  authority  to  adopt  such  measures  he  did  not  look 


82 

for  in  the  enumerated  powers  specifically  delegated  to  Congress, 
which  operated  directly  upon  the  individual  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  but  he  felt  that  it  lay  in  that  complete  plenary  power 
which  pertained  to  the  Government  as  the  sole  and  exclusive 
representative  of  the  undivided  sovereingty  of  the  Eepublic  in 
its  relations  with  other  nations.  That  this  was  his  view  will  be 
clearly  seen  by  reading  the  speeches  delivered  in  1816  in  sup 
port  of  these  measures. 

Irksome  as  it  must  be  to  listen  to  the  reading  of  documents, 
I  must  ask  you  to  give  me  your  attention  whilst  I  read  the  fol 
lowing  extracts  from  his  speech  of  January  31,  1816,  to  show 
that  he  advocated  protection  to  manufactures  as  a  means  of 
national  defense  and  purely  as  a  temporary  measure.  In  that 
speech  he  says:  "We  are  now  called  on  to  determine  what 
amount  of  revenue  is  necessary  for  this  country  in  time  of  peace. 
*  *  *  The  principal  expense  of  the  Government  grows  out  of 
measures  necessary  for  its  defense;  and  in  order  to  decide  what 
these  measures  ought  to  be,  it  will  be  proper  to  inquire  what  ought 
to  be  our  policy  towards  other  nations  ?  And  what  will  probably  be 
theirs  towards  us  ?"  After  discussing  the  first  question  he  pro 
ceeds  to  the  next,  "What  will  probably  be  the  policy  of  other 
nations  ?"  He  then  says:  "With  both  these  nations  (Great 
Britain  and  Spain)  we  have  many  and  important  points  of  col 
lision.  *  *  *  With  both  there  is  a  possibility  sooner  or  later  of 
our  being  engaged  in  war."  Then  adverting  to  our  relations 
with  England  he  says:  "But  what  will  be  the  probable  course  of 
events  respecting  future  relations  between  the  two  countries  ? 
England  is  the  most  formidable  power  in  the  world;  she  has  the 
most  numerous  army  and  navy  at  her  command.  Will  Great 
Britain  permit  us  to  go  on  in  an  uninterrupted  march  to  the 
height  of  national  greatness  and  prosperity?  *  *  *  I  will  speak 
what  I  believe  to  be  true;  you  will  have  to  encounter  British  jeal 
ousy  and  hostility  in  every  shape — not  immediately  mani 
fested  by  open  force  or  violence,  perhaps,  but  by  indirect  attempts 
to  check  your  growth  and  prosperity.  *  *  *  Let  us  now  con 
sider  the  measures  of  preparation  which  sound  policy  dictates." 
After  speaking  of  England's  power  to  do  us  injury  both  upon 
the  coast  and  from  Canada  as  a  point  of  attack,  and  our  means 
of  defence,  he  says:  "Thus  circumstanced  on  both  sides,  we 
ought  to  omit  no  preparation  fairly  within  the  compass  of  our 


83 

means.  Next,  as  the  species  of  preparation,  a  question  which 
opens  subjects  of  great  extent  and  importance.  The  navy  most 
certainly,  in  any  point  of  view,  occupies  the  first  place."  After 
the  most  admirable  argument  in  favor  of  the  navy  as  the  most 
powerful  agency  for  our  foreign  defences,  the  army,  &c.,  he  says: 
"Now  let  us  consider  the  proper  encouragement  to  be  afforded 
to  the  industries  of  the  country.  In  regard  to  the  question  how 
far  manufacturers  ought  to  be  fostered,  it  is  the  duty  of  this 
country,  as  a  means  of  defence,  to  encourage  its  domestic  indus 
try,  more  especially  that  part  of  it  which  provides  the  necessary 
materials  for  clothing  and  defence.  Let  us  look  at  the  nature  of 
the  war  most  likely  to  occur.  England  is  in  possession  of  the 
ocean.  No  man,  however  sanguine,  can  believe  that  we  can 
soon  deprive  her  of  her  maritime  predominence.  That  control 
deprives  us  of  the  means  of  maintaining,  cheaply  clad,  our  army 
and  navy,  *  *  *  laying  the  claims  of  manufacturers  entirely 
out  of  view,  on  general  principles,  without  regard  to  their  inter 
ests,  a  certain  encouragement  should  be  tendered  at  least  to  our 
woolen  and  cotton  manufactures.  The  failure  of  the  wealth  and 
resources  of  the  nation  necessarily  involved  the  ruin  of  its 
finances  and  it  currency.  It  is  admitted  by  the  most  strenuous 
advocates  on  the  other  side  that  no  country  ought  to  be  depend 
ent  on  another  for  its  means  of  defence;  that,  at  least,  our 
musket  and  bayonet,  our  cannon  and  ball  ought  to  be  of  domestic 
manufacture.  But,  what,  he  asked,  is  more  necessary  to  the 
defence  of  a  country  than  its  currency  and  finance  ?  Circum 
stanced  as  our  country  is,  can  these  stand  the  shock  of  war? 
Behold  the  effect  of  the  late  war  on  them  !  When  our  manufac 
tures  are  grown  to  a  certain  perfection,  as  they  soon  will  under 
the  fostering  care  of  the  Government,  we  will  no  longer  ex 
perience  these  evils." 

To  this  distressing  state  of  things  there  were  two  remedies, 
and  only  two:  one  in  our  power  immediately,  the  other  requiring 
much  time  and  exertion,  but  both  constituting,  in  his  opinion, 
the  essential  policy  of  this  country — he  meant  the  navy  and 
domestic  manufactures.  By  the  former  we  could  open  the  way 
to  our  markets;  by  the  latter  we  bring  them  from  beyond  the 
ocean  and  naturalize  them.  Had  we  the  means  of  attaining  an 
immediate  naval  ascendency,  he  acknowledged  that  the  policy 
recommended  by  this  bill  would  be  very  questionable;  but  as 


84 

that  is  not  the  fact,  as  it  is  a  period  remote  with  any  exertion, 
and  will  be  probably  more  so  from  that  relaxation  of  exertion  so 
natural  in  peace,  when  necessity  is  not  felt,  it  becomes  the  duty 
of  this  House  to  resort  to  a  considerable  extent,  at  least  as  far 
as  is  proposed,  to  the  only  remaining  remedy. 

Pardon  the  digression,  but  I  desire  here  to  state  that  through 
all  these  speeches  there  breathed  the  strongest  sentiments  of  de 
votion  to  the  Union.  In  the  speech  from  which  I  have  already 
quoted  he  said  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  liberty  and  the  union  of 
this  country  were  inseparably  united;  that,  as  the  destruction  of 
the  latter  would  certainly  involve  the  former,  so  its  maintenance 
will,  with  equal  certainty,  preserve  it.  He  did  not  speak  lightly. 
He  had  often  and  long  revolved  it  in  his  mind,  and  he  had  crit 
ically  examined  into  the  causes  that  destroyed  the  liberty  of 
other  States.  There  are  none  that  apply  to  us,  or  apply  with  a 
force  to  alarm.  The  basis  of  our  Republic  is  too  broad  and  its 
structure  too  strong  to  be  shaken  by  them.  Its  extension  and 
organization  will  be  found  to  afford  effectual  security  against 
their  operation;  but  let  it  be  deeply  impressed  on  the  heart  of 
this  House  and  country  that,  while  they  guarded  against  the  old, 
they  exposed  us  to  a  new  and  terrible  danger — Disunioi  This 
single  word  comprehended  almost  the  sum  of  our  political  dan 
gers,  and  against  it  we  ought  to  be  perpetually  guarded. 

The  very  last  speech  that  he  delivered  in  the  House  of  T  jpre- 
sentatives  was  like  that  which  at  the  end  of  his  life  he  delivered 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  It  was  a  plea  for  the  Union. 

Sixteen  years  elapsed  between  the  delivery  of  this  speech  and 
his  reappearance  in  the  national  councils  as  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States.  Those  years  were  crowded  with  important  events 
and  changes.  At  the  expiration  of  them  the  United  States  had 
grown  to  be  a  great  and  powerful  Republic,  whose  people  laughed 
to  scorn  the  thought  of  danger  from  any  power  on  earth.  The 
moderate  protective  tariff  and  other  measures  which  he  had  ad 
vocated  as  a  means  of  defence  against  foreign  aggressions,  had 
grown  to  colossal  systems,  drawing  wealth  and  power  from  Fed 
eral  taxation,  dominating  and  destroying  the  agricultural  inter 
ests  of  the  country.  It  was  during  this  period  that  Mr.  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  elected  President  of  the  United  States.  The 
manner  of  his  election  by  the  House  of  Representatives  over 
Gen.  Jackson,  who  had  received  the  largest  number  of  electoral 


85 

votes,  the  bold  centralizing  doctrines  enunciated  in  his  inaugu 
ral  and  the  measures  which  he  urged  excited  opposition  among 
Republicans  throughout  the  country,  in  which  Mr.  Calhoun 
united.  The  venerable  Thomas  Jefferson,  then  eighty-three 
years  of  age,  and  living  in  strict  retirement,  whose  mind,  how 
ever,  looked  from  the  brink  of  the  grave  keenly  into  the  future, 
gave  forth  the  following  prophetic  warnings  : 

"I  see  as  you  do,  and  with  the  deepest  affliction,  the  rapid 
strides  with  which  the  Federal  branch  of  our  Government  is 
advancing  towards  the  usurpation  of  all  the  rights  reserved  to 
the  States,  and  the  consolidation  in  itself  of  all  powers,  foreign 
and  domestic;  and  that,  too,  by  constructions  which,  if  legiti 
mate,  leave  no  limits  to  their  power.  Take  together  the  decis 
ions  of  the  Federal  Court,  the  doctrines  of  the  President,  and 
the  misconstructions  of  the  constitutional  compact  acted  on  by 
the  Legislature  of  the  Federal  branch,  and  it  is  but  too  evident 
that  the  three  ruling  branches  of  that  department  are  in  com 
bination  to  strip  their  colleagues,  the  State  authorities,  of  the 
powers  reserved  by  them,  and  to  exercise  themselves  all  func 
tions  foreign  and  domestic.  Under  the  power  to  regulate  com 
merce  'they  assume  indefinitely  that  over  agriculture  and  man 
ufactures,  and  call  it  regulation  to  take  the  earnings  of  one  of 
ihern.  branches  of  industry,  and  that,  too,  the  most  depressed, 
anduiut  them  into  the  pockets  of  the  other,  the  most  flourish 
ing  of  all.  *  *  And  what  is  our  resource  for  the  pre 
servation  of  the  Constitution  ?  Reason  and  argument  ?  You 
might  as  well  reason  with  the  marble  columns  encircling  them/' 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss  here  the  question  of  a  protec 
tive  tariff.  I  desire  to  efface  myself  on  this  occasion.  My  only 
aspiration  is  to  present  to  you  the  moral  and  intellectual  image 
of  him  whose  outer  form  and  lineaments  are  presented  in  the 
admirable  statue  which  we  this  day  unveil. 

In  one  of  his  great  speeches  he  stated  that  the  station  of  Vice- 
President,  from  its  leisure,  had  given  him  the  opportunity  to 
study  the  genius  of  the  protective  system  as  a  measure  of  per 
manent  domestic  policy;  that  he  saw  its  blasting  effects  on  one 
section,  its  corrupting  effects  on  the  other,  and  these  effects  in 
creasing  until  the  burden  became  intolerable  under  the  tariff  of 
1828,  which  was  the  crowning  act  of  the  administration  of  Mr. 

Adams.     He   saw    that   under   its   operation    '•  desolation   was 
12 


86 

spreading  over  the  entire  staple  region;  its  commercial  cities 
were  deserted;  Charleston  parted  with  her  last  ship  and  grass 
grew  in  her  once  busy  streets." 

He  believed  that  the  Constitution  was  violated  in  using  a 
power  granted  to  raise  revenue  as  the  instrument  of  rearing  up 
the  industry  of  one  section  of  the  country  on  the  ruins  of 
another;  that  it  was,  in  a  word,  "  a  violation  of  the  Constitu 
tion  by  perversion,  the  most  dangerous  of  all,  because  the  most 
insidious  and  difficult  to  counteract." 

When  convinced  that  there  was  no  hope  for  relief  from  Con 
gress  through  the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson,  he  advised  a 
remedy  which  he  believed  to  be  within  the  limits  of  the  Consti 
tution,  conducive  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  yet  fully 
adequate  to  protect  the  States  and  the  people  from  the  abuse 
and  encroachments  of  Federal  power.  That  remedy  was  State 
intervention  or  nullification.  The  State  of  South  Carolina,  in 
a  convention  duly  and  legally  convoked  in  November,  1832, 
passed  an  ordinance  declaring  the  tariff  of  1832  and  1828  to  be 
unconstitutional,  null  and  void  within  her  limits,  and  of  no 
binding  effect  upon  her  officers  and  citizens.  This  was  followed 
by  a  proclamation  from  President  Jackson  declaring  the  ordi 
nance  unconstitutional,  intended  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  for 
bidding  any  obedience  to  it  upon  the  pains  and  penalties  of 
treason.  In  defense  of  the  action  of  his  State,  and  in  oppo_ 
sition  to  the  doctrines  of  the  proclamation  and  the  legislation  in 
support  of  it  Mr.  Calhoun  put  forth  those  profound  expositions 
of  political  principles  which,  as  Mr.  Webster  afterwards  said, 
"will  descend  to  posterity  under  the  sanction  of  a  great  name." 

It  is  simply  impossible  to  give  an  abstract  in  the  most  con 
densed  form  of  these  principles. 

The  leading  idea  of  those  expositions  is  that  the  American 
Union  is  a  Democratic  Federal  Eepublic — a  political  system 
compounded  of  the  separate  Governments  of  the  several  States 
and  of  one  common  Government  of  all  the  States,  called 
the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Each  was  created 
by  written  constitution,  those  of  the  particular  States  by 
the  people  of  each  acting  separately,  and  that  of  the  United 
States  by  the  peop^  of  each  in  its  sovereign  capacity,  but 
acting  jointly.  The  entire  powers  of  government  are  divided 
between  the  two — those  lodged  in  the  General  Government  be- 


87 

ing  delegated  by  specific  and  enumerated  grants  in  the  Consti 
tution;  and  all  others  not  delegated  being  reserved  to  the  States 
respectively,  or  to  the  people.  The  powers  of  each  are  sover 
eign,  and  neither  derives  its  powers  from  the  other.  In  their 
respective  spheres  neither  is  subordinate  to  the  other,  but  co 
ordinate,  and,  being  co-ordinate,  each  has  the  right  of  protect 
ing  its  own  powers  from  the  encroachments  of  the  other,  the 
two  combined  forming  one  entire  and  perfect  Government.  The 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  delegated  powers  to  the  Fed 
eral  Government  and  the  powers  reserved  to  the  States  is  plain, 
inasmuch  as  all  the  powers  delegated  to  the  General  Government 
are  expressly  laid  down,  and  those  not  delegated  are  reserved  to 
the  States  unless  specially  prohibited. 

The  greater  part  of  the  powers  delegated  to  the  General  Gov 
ernment  relate  directly  or  indirectly  to  two  great  divisions  of 
authority;  the  one  pertaining  to  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
country,  the  other  of  an  internal  character,  and  pertaining  to 
the  exterior  relations  of  the  States,  the  purposes  for  which  the 
Constitution  was  formed  being  power,  security  and  respectability 
without,  and  peace,  tranquility  and  harmony  within. 

After  a  full  exposition  of  these  propositions,  he  employs  the 
following  strong  and  vigorous  language  : 

"  Taking  all  the  parts  together,  the  people  of  twenty-four 
independent  and  sovereign  States,  confederated  by  a  solemn 
constitutional  compact  into  one  great  federal  community  with  a 
system  of  government,  in  all  of  which  powers,  are  separated  into 
the  great  primary  divisions  of  the  Constitution-making  and  the 
law-making  powers,  those  of  the  latter  class  being  divided  between 
the  common  and  joint  government  of  all  the  States,  and  the  sep 
arate  and  local  governments  of  each  State,  respectively ;  and 
finally  the  powers  of  both,  distributed  among  three  separate  and 
independent  departments,  legislative,  executive  and  judicial,  pre 
sents  in  the  whole  a  political  system  as  remarkable  for  its  grand 
eur  as  it  is  for  its  novelty  and  refinement  of  organization.  For  the 
structure  of  such  a  system,  so  wise,  just  and  beneficent,  we  are  far 
more  indebted  to  a  superintending  Providence  that  so  disposed 
events  as  to  lead  as  if  by  invisible  hand  to  its  formation  than  to 
those  who  erected  it.  Intelligent,  experienced  and  patriotic  as  they 
were,  they  were  but  builders  under  His  superintending  direction. 
To  preserve  this  sacred  distribution  as  originally  settled,  by  coerc- 


88 

ing  each  to  move  in  its  prescribed  orbit,  is  the  great  and  difficult 
problem  on  the  solution  of  which  the  duration  of  our  Constitu 
tion,  of  our  Union,,  and,  in  all  probability,  our  liberty  depends." 

He  next  addressed  himself  to  the  great  question,  "  what  pro 
vision  does  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  or  the  system 
itself  furnish  to  preserve  this  and  the  other  division  of  powers  ?" 
He  then  proceeds  to  show  that  from  the  relations  which  subsist 
between  co-ordinate  Governments,  and  from  a  law  universally 
applicable  to  a  division  of  power,  whether  between  Governments 
or  departments  of  Governments,  a  mutual  negative  on  the  part 
of  each  is  necessary  to  protect  each  from  the  other  ;  and  that  in 
a  case  of  conflict  as  to  the  limits  of  their  respective  authority 
neither  has  the  right  to  impose  by  force  its  decision  against  the 
other,  but  must  appeal  to  a  power  paramount  to  either,  whose 
decision  is  final  and  binding  on  both.  That  paramount  power 
in  our  system  is  the  convention  of  States,  the  most  august  and 
imposing  embodiment  of  political  authority  known  to  the  Amer 
ican  system  of  Government.  And  this  is  the  Doctrine  of  Nul 
lification. 

As  a  result  of  the  events,  which  in  an  earlier  part  of  these 
remarks  I  have  discussed,  the  right  of  Nullification,  even  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  once  asserted  that  right,  no  longer  has  a 
place  in  the  apparatus  of  our  political  system.  No  one  now  has 
the  slightest  dream  of  any  resort  to  State  interposition  as  a 
remedy  for  political  grievances.  Nor  would  it  be  fair  to  state 
the  arguments  adduced  by  him  in  support  of  Nullification  with 
out  presenting  those  advanced  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine. 

But  the  sincerity  of  his  patriotism  in  this  matter  should,  in 
justice  to  his  name  and  fame,  be  cleared  of  the  aspersions  of 
those  who  have  reported  him  as  a  conspirator,  impelled  by  am 
bition  to  arouse  sectional  animosities  and  passions  with  a  view 
to  tearing  the  Union  asunder.  And  it  is  with  a  view  to  this 
alone  that  I  shall  further  refer  to  his  course  on  this  question. 

In  reply  to  this  charge  I  cannot  resist  quoting  his  own  words: 

"  I  am  not  ignorant  that  those  opposed  to  the  doctrine  have 
always,  now  and  formerly,  regarded  it  as  anarchical  and  revolu 
tionary.  Could  I  believe  such,  in  fact,  to  be  its  tendency,  to 
me  it  would  be  no  recommendation.  I  yield  to  none,  I  trust,  in 
a  deep  and  sincere  attachment  to  our  political  institutions  and 
the  union  of  the  States.  I  never  expressed  an  opposite  senti- 


89 

ment,  but,,  on  the  contrary,  I  have  ever  considered  them  the 
great  instruments  of  preserving  our  liberty  and  promoting 
the  happiness  of  ourselves  and  our  posterity.  And,  next  to 
this,  I  have  ever  held  them  most  dear.  Nearly  half  of  my  life 
has  been  passed  in  the  service  of  the  Union,  and  whatever  pub 
lic  reputation  I  have  acquired  is  indissolubly  identified  with  it. 
To  be  too  national  has,  indeed,  been  considered  by  many,  even 
of  my  friends,  my  greatest  political  fault.  With  these  strong 
feelings  of  attachment  I  have  examined  with  the  utmost  care 
the  bearing  of  the  doctrine  in  question;  and  so  far  from  being 
anarchical  or  revolutionary,  I  solemnly  believe  it  to  be  the  only 
solid  foundation  of  our  system,  and  of  the  Union  itself;  and 
that  the  opposite  doctrine,  which  denies  to  the  States  the  right 
of  protecting  their  reserved  powers,  and  which  would  vest  in 
the  Government  (it  matters  not  through  what  department)  the 
right  of  determining  exclusively  and  finally  the  powers  delegated 
to  it,  is  incompatible  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  if  the 
Constitution  itself  be  considered  as  the  basis  of  the  Federal 
Union." 

To  the  objection  that  the  right  of  a  State  to  interpose  and 
arrest  an  Act  of  Congress  because  of  its  alleged  unconstitution 
ally,  is  inconsistent  with  the  necessary  authority  of  the  Gov 
ernment  and  must  lead  to  feebleness,  anarchy  and  final  dis 
union,  he  says  that  this  power  of  nullification  would,  if  un 
checked,  like  all  unchecked  power,  tend  to  abuse  and  disaster. 
"  But  it  is  not  unchecked/7  said  he.  "  As  high  as  this  right  of 
interposition  on  the  part  of  a  State  may  be  regarded  in  relation 
to  the  General  Government,  the  constitutional  compact  provides 
a  remedy  against  this  abuse.  There  is  a  higher  power  placed 
above  all — by  the  consent  of  all — the  creating  and  preserving 
power  of  the  system,  to  be  exercised  by  three-fourths  of  the 
States,  and  which,  under  the  character  of  the  amending  power, 
can  modify  the  whole  system  at  pleasure,  and  to  the  acts  of 
which  none  can  object.  Admit  then,  the  power  in  question  to 
belong  to  the  States — and  admit  its  liability  to  abuse — and  what 
are  the  utmost  consequences,  but  to  create  a  presumption  against 
the  constitutionality  of  the  power  exercised  by  the  General  Gov 
ernment,  which,  if  it  be  well  founded,  must  compel  them  to 
abandon  it  ?  *  *  *  If,  on  an  appeal  for  this  purpose, 
the  decision  be  favorable  to  the  General  Government,  a  disputed 


90 

power  will  be  converted  into  an  expressly  granted  power ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  if  it  be  adverse,  the  refusal  to  grant  will  be 
tantamount  to  an  inhibition  of  its  exercise  ;  and  thus,  in  either 
case,  the  controversy  will  be  determined.  The  utmost  extent, 
then,  of  the  power  is,  that  a  State,  acting  in  its  sovereign  capa 
city  as  one  of  the  parties  to  the  constitutional  compact,  may 
compel  the  government,  created  by  that  compact,  to  submit  a 
question  touching  its  infraction,  to  the  parties  who  created  it. 
This  amending  power  by  a  convention  of  the  States  is,  when 
properly  understood,  the  vis  medicatrix  of  the  system — its  great 
repairing,  healing  and  conservative  power — intended  to  remedy 
its  disorders,  in  whatever  cause  or  causes  originating  ;  whether 
in  the  original  defects  or  errors  of  the  Constitution  itself,  or 
the  operation  and  change  of  circumstances.  *  *  *  Or,  in 
case  of  a  disputed  power,  whether  it  be  between  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  and  one  of  its  co-ordinates,  or  between  the  former  and 
an  interposing  State,  by  declaring,  authoritatively,  what  is  the 
Constitution.  *  *  *  It  is  thus  that  our  Constitution,  by 
authorizing  amendments,  and  by  prescribing  the  authority  and 
mode  of  making  them,  has,  by  a  simple  contrivance,  with  its 
characteristic  wisdom,  provided  a  power  which,  in  the  last  resort, 
supersedes  effectually  the  necessity,  and  even  the  pretext,  for 
force. 

"  That  such  a  remedy  is  provided  is  proof  of  the  profound 
wisdom  of  the  great  men  who  formed  our  Constitution,  and  en 
titles  them  to  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  country,  but  it  will  be 
in  vain  that  their  wisdom  devised  a  remedy  so  admirable,  a  sub 
stitute  so  infinitely  superior  to  the  old  and  irrational  mode  of 
terminating  such  controversies  as  are  of  too  high  a  nature  to  be 
adjusted  by  the  force  of  reason,  or  through  the  ordinary  tribu 
nals,  if  their  descendants  be  so  blind  as  not  to  perceive  its  effi 
cacy,  or  so  intently  bent  upon  schemes  of  ambition  and  avarice 
as  to  prefer  to  this  constitutional,  peaceful  and  safe  remedy,  the 
wanton,  hazardous  and  immoral  arbitrament  of  force. " 

"There  is,  indeed,  one  view,  and  one  only  of  the  contest,  in 
which  force  could  be  employed  ;  but  that  view,  as  between  the 
parties,  would  supersede  the  Constitution  itself — that  nullifica 
tion  is  secession — and  would,  consequently,  placa  the  State,  as 
to  the  others,  in  the  relation  of  a  foreign  State.  *  *  * 
Standing  thus  towards  one  another,  force  might,  indeed,  be 


91 

employed  against  a  State,  but  it  must  be  a  belligerent  force,  pre 
ceded  by  a  declaration  of  war  and  carried  on  with  all  its  formal 
ities.  Such  would  be  the  certain  effect  of  secession  ;  and,  if  nul 
lification  be  secession,  such,  too,  must  be  its  effect,  which  pre 
sents  the  highly  important  question,  are  they,  in  fact,  the  same  ? 
On  the  decision  of  which  depends  the  question  whether  nullifi 
cation  be  a  peaceable  and  Constitutional  remedy  that  may  be 
exercised  without  terminating  the  federal  relations  of  the  State 
or  not. 

"I  am  aware  that  there  is  a  considerable  and  respectable  por 
tion  of  our  State,  with  a  very  large  portion  of  the  Union,  con 
stituting,  in  fact,  a  great  majority,  who  are  of  the  opinion  that 
they  are  the  same  thing,  differing  only  in  name,  and  who,  under 
that  impression,  denounce  it  as  the  most  dangerous  of  all  doc 
trines  ;  and  yet,  so  far  from  being  the  same,  they  are,  unless, 
indeed,  I  am  greatly  deceived,  not  only  perfectly  distinguisha 
ble,  but  totally  dissimilar  in  their  nature,  their  object  and  effect ; 
and  that,  so  far  from  deserving  the  denunciation,  so  properly 
belonging  to  the  act  with  which  it  is  confounded,  it  is,  in  truth, 
the  highest  and  most  precious  of  all  the  rights  of  the  States, 
and  essential  to  preserve  that  very  Union,  for  the  supposed  effect 
of  destroying  which  it  is  so  bitterly  anathematized.  They  are 
wholly  dissimilar  in  their  nature.  Secession  is  the  withdrawal 
from  the  Union,  *  *  *  a  throwing  off  of  the  authority  of 
the  Union  itself,  a  separation  from  partners,  and  as  far  as  it  de 
pends  on  the  member  withdrawing,  a  dissolution  of  the  partner 
ship.  It  presupposes  an  association  or  union  of  several  States 
o.r  individuals  for  a  common  object.  *  *  *  Nullification,  on 
the  contrary,  presupposes  the  relation  of  principal  and  agent  ; 
the  one  granting  a  power  to  be  executed,  the  other,  appointed 
by  him  with  authority  to  execute  it,  and  is  simply  a  declaration 
on  the  part  of  the  principal,  made  in  due  form,  that  an  act  of 
the  agent  transcending  his  power  is  null  and  void.  *  *  * 
The  difference  in  their  object  is  no  less  striking  than  in  their 
nature.  The  object  of  secession  is  to  free  the  withdrawing 
member  from  the  obligation  of  the  association  or  union,  &c.  Its 
direct  and  immediate  object,  as  it  concerns  the  withdrawing 
member,  is  the  dissolution  of  the  association  or  union,  as  far  as 
it  is  concerned.  On  the  contrary,  the  object  of  nullification  is 
to  confine  the  agent  within  the  limits  of  his  powers,  by  arrest- 


92 

ing  his  acts  transcending  them,  not  with  a  view  of  destroying 
the  delegated  or  trust  power,  bat  to  preserve  it  by  compelling 
the  agent  to  fulfill  the  object  for  which  agency  or  trust  was 
created  ;  and  is  applicable  only  to  cases  where  the  trust  or  dele 
gated  powers  are  transcended  on  the  part  of  the  agent. 

"It  remains  now  to  show  that  their  effect  is  as  dissimilar  as 
their  nature  or  object. 

"  Nullification  leaves  the  members  of  the  association  or  union 
in  the  condition  it  found  them — subject  to  all  its  burdens,  and 
entitled  to  all  its  advantages,  comprehending  the  member  nulli 
fying  as  well  as  the  others — its  object  being  not  to  destroy  but 
to  preserve,  as  has  been  stated.  *  *  *  Secession,  on  the  con 
trary,  destroys,  as  far  as  the  withdrawing  member  is  concerned, 
the  association  or  union.  *  Such  are  clearly  the  differ 

ences  between  them  ;  differences  so  marked  that,  instead  of  be 
ing  identical,  as  supposed,  they  form  a  contrast  in  all  the  aspects 
in  which  they  can  be  regarded." 

Whatever  may  be  the  objections  to  this  doctrine,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  it  had  not  in  it  an  element  of  disunion.  It  might 
have  proved  cumbrous  and  obstructive  in  its  operations  of  the 
Government ;  it  might  have  impaired  its  promptness  and  vigor 
and  energy  of  action,  and  probably  would  ;  but  had  it  been 
recognized  and  acted  upon  by  the  Federal  Government  it  would 
have  ever  prevented  a  resort  to  secession  on  the  one  hand,  or  a 
resort  to  force  on  the  other.  But  the  right  was  not  recognized; 
it  was  denied  and  inflexibly  opposed  by  the  General  Government, 
which  assumed  to  impose  its  own  construction  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  against  that  of  the  States,  by  force. 

Just  at  this  time  Mr.  Calhoun  resigned  the  office  of  Vice- 
President,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  in  place  of  Gen. 
Kobert  Y.  Hayne,  who  had  been  chosen  Governor  of  the  State. 
A  few  days  after  he  took  his  seat,  President  Jackson  sent  a  mes 
sage  to  Congress,  transmitting  the  ordinance  of  nullification  with 
his  own  proclamation,  and  recommending  the  passage  of  meas 
ures  which  would  enable  him  to  compel,  by  the  use  of  military 
force,  the  obedience  and  submission  of  the  States. 

It  was  upon  the  occasion  of  this  message  and  the  force  bill, 
which  became  a  law  during  that  session,  that  the  great  debate 
took  place  between  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  memorable 
for  the  ability  and  eloquence  displayed,  the  eminent  character  of 


93 

the  two  great  champions  of  the  hostile  theories,  and  the  mag 
nitude  of  the  questions  involved.  Up  to  the  time  that  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  took  his  stand  for  what  he  deemed  was  the  cause  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  as  well  as  the  liberty  and  the  inter 
est  of  the  people  of  his  own  State,  national  honors  and  distinc 
tions  and  popular  applause  seemed  to  have  sought  him  out  and 
crowded  his  path  through  public  life.  He  had  up  to  that  mo 
ment  been  regarded  as  the  most  renowned  and  shining  character 
among  living  American  statesmen,  and  next  to  Jackson,  the 
most  popular.  He  was  but  one  step  from  the  Presidency  and 
was  regarded  as  the  heir-apparent  of  President  Jackson,  who, 
it  was  understood,  would  serve  but  one  term. 

To  my  mind  there  is  nothing  connected  with  Mr.  Calhoun's 
life  so  fraught  with  touching  pathos,  so  characteristic  of  the 
grand  soul  of  the  man,  as  the  isolation  of  his  position  when  he 
took '  his  place  in  the  United  States  Senate.  He  saw  all  the 
popularity  which  marked  the  early  part  of  his  career  receding 
from  him.  He  saw  a  majority  of  all  his  old  political  associates 
and  friends  in  the  Senate  now  in  hostile  array  against  him,  and 
his  old  political  enemies  in  perfect  unanimity  allied  with  them. 
Not  one  sister  State  from  any  part  of  the  Union  stood  by  South 
Carolina  in  this  final  conflict.  Both  Houses  of  Congress,  with 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  that  President  Andrew 
Jackson,  combined  together  in  the  adoption  of  measures  to 
force  his  State  into  submission  to  the  law  which  she  had  nulli 
fied.  Never  a  contest,  to  all  seeming  was  so  unequal,  so  hope 
less.  But  he  quailed  not ;  strong  in  his  own  conviction  of  the 
justice  of  his  cause  ;  self -poised  in  the  counsels  of  his  own  mind, 
doing  nothing  rashly,  and  yet  nothing  timidly  or  doubtfully  ; 
ready  to  immolate  himself  for  the  right  which  his  State  had  en 
trusted  to  his  defence,  this  noble,  brave  man,  on  whose  brow 
God  had  set  the  seal  of  truth  ;  whose  eye  beamed  bright  with 
the  devotion  that  fired  his  soul — courage,  manliness,  sincerity, 
truth  in  every  tone  and  look — greatness  in  every  lineament  of 
his  countenance — stood  alone  and  prevailed.  Yes,  prevailed  ! 
For  the  controversy,  when  closed,  was  closed  by  the  compromise 
act  which  repealed  the  law  that  his  State  had  nullified.  The 
very  Congress  which  passed  the  force  bill  to  coerce  South  Caro 
lina  into  submission  to  the  tariff  of  1828  and  1832,  at  the  same 
session  repealed  those  two  laws,  and  Andrew  Jackson,  the  man 

13 


94 

of  iron  will  and  pitiless  purpose,  in  the  face  of  his  proclamation, 
signed  the  act  that  swept  from  the  statute-book  the  enactment 
which  South  Carolina  in  her  asserted  sovereignty  had  declared 
unconstitutional,  null  and  void,  and  inoperative  in  her  limits. 

Any  account  of  those  stormy  times  would  be  incomplete  which 
left  out  the  majestic  figure  of  Henry  Clay,  the  matchless  orator, 
the  noble  patriot,  whose  heart  was  the  sanctuary  of  all  noble 
impulses  and  generous  aspirations,  the  genius  of  conciliation 
and  harmony,  who  introduced  his  celebrated  compromise  bill 
which  averted  the  storm  and  substituted  peace  for  intestine 
strife.  Immortal  honor  to  the  name  of  Henry  Clay  ! 

And  here  is  presented  a  spectacle  which  cannot  fail  to  excite 
the  pride  and  admiration  of  all  true  Americans.  Henry  Clay, 
the  author  of  the  American  system,  of  which  the  protective 
policy  was  the  most  cherished  principle  ;  John  C.  Calhoun,  the 
representative  and  champion  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the 
States  and  their  sovereignty  ;  Andrew  Jackson,  the  stern,  inflex 
ible  enforcer  of  the  supreme  power  and  paramount  authority  of 
the  nation  ;  each  bursting  the  trammels  of  party,  casting  aside 
sectional  animosity,  disregarding  pride  of  opinion  and  personal 
hostilities  ;  each  making  concessions  and  all  giving  their  united 
tribute  of  intellect  and  patriotism  to  the  good  of  their  common 
country. 

By  this  compromise,  South  Carolina,  although  she  gained  the 
repeal  of  the  law  she  had  nullified,  and  the  prostration  of  the 
protective  system,  made  important  concessions.  Mr.  Clay 
(though  he  sacrificed  the  protective  system)  by  his  statesmanship 
secured  the  wise  provision  that  the  protective  imposts  should  be 
gradually  reduced,  covering  a  term  of  ten  years,  to  a  revenue 
standard.  To  this  feature  Mr.  Calhoun  assented  fully,  as  it  had 
always  been  his  policy  to  adopt  a  gradual  and  tentative  reduction 
of  protective  duties,  and  thus  to  secure  safety  to  all  interests 
and  permanent  establishment  of  a  just  and  fair  revenue  system. 
The  force  bill  remained  on  the  statute-book  unrepealed,  which 
asserts  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Union  over  a  nullifying 
State. 

This  settlement  must  give  rise  to  the  most  noble  reflections. 
The  reader  of  our  history  is  apt  to  be  saddened  by  the  thought 
that  the  eloquence  and  wisdom  and  services  of  our  greatest 
statesmen  are  exhibited,  not  in  united  efforts  and  harmonious 


95 

co-operation,  but  in  conflict  among  themselves,  and  victories  of 
one  party  over  another.  But  when  a  supreme  moment  comes 
the  fact  is  revealed  that  what  seems  to  be  fierce  combat  among 
themselves  is  but  the  ardent  strivings  of  each  for  the  honor, 
perpetuity,  and  glory  of  a  common  country. 

I  find  that  I  have  already  transcended  the  limits  I  have  pre 
scribed  to  myself,  and  have  not  the  time  to  even  sketch  his 
measures  and  speeches  during  the  remainder  of  his  public  life, 
all  of  which  (except  one  year)  was  given  to  the  public  service. 

After  the  adjustment  of  the  tariff  question,  or  what  was 
agreed  to  be  its  final  settlement,  he  at  once  devoted  himself  to 
those  great  issues  and  those  great  political  reforms  in  which 
every  section  of  the  country  was  alike  interested.  Among  these 
was,  first,  the  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the  National  Bank 
of  the  United  States  and  their  transfer  to  the  State  banks,  by 
order  of  the  President,  and  also  his  course  on  the  protest  of  the 
Senate  against  that  act.  On  these  occasions  the  speeches  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  were  able  and  fearless  exposures  of  what  he  deemed  the 
arbitrary  abuse  involved  in  that  act  and  the  subsequent  out 
rageous  invasion  on  the  part  of  the  Executive  upon  the  con 
stitutional  rights  and  prerogatives  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress.  Whilst  he  occupied  upon  these  subjects  common  ground 
with  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster  in  opposition  to  Gen.  Jackson's 
administration,  he  made  it  very  clear  that  upon  the  question  of 
the  national  bank,  the  subject  of  currency  and  other  measures 
of  national  policy,  his  differences  with  those  gentlemen  and  the 
party  they  represented  were  marked  and  radical.  From  1833  to 
1843  he  delivered  a  series  of  speeches  upon  the  financial  and 
economical  problems  of  that  period,  which,  in  their  thorough 
elucidation  of  the  causes  which  had  produced  the  evils  of  a  dis 
ordered  currency,  prostitution  of  credit  and  general  financial 
embarrassment,  and  in  their  wise  forecast  in  indicating  the  true 
remedy,  were  as  able  as  any  he  ever  delivered,  and,  indeed,  were 
pronounced  by  Senators  eminent  for  talents  and  long  experience 
to  be  the  ablest  they  had  ever  heard  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

On  the  5th  of  February,  1835,  he  made  a  report  on  the  extent 
of  Government  patronage  which  startled  the  country  by  its  reve 
lations  of  the  enormous  extent  to  which  the  abuses  of  the  sys 
tem  had  grown,  and  the  degenerating  influences  it  was  exercis 
ing  alike  upon  the  Government  and  the  character  of  the  people. 


96 

Animated  and  acrimonious  debates  arose  in  the  Senate  upon  the 
facts  stated  in  the  report.  In  maintenance  of  the  positions  as 
sumed  therein,  Mr.  Calhoun  made  a  speech  which  is  perhaps  as 
applicable  to  the  present  time  as  it  was  to  those  in  which  it 
was  delivered.  After  showing  how  alarmingly  the  system  had 
grown  he  proceeded  to  demonstrate  the  causes  which  produced 
it,  and  which  gave  to  it  its  growth  and  its  dangerous  influences. 
At  the  head  of  these  causes  he  placed  "  the  practice  so  greatly 
extended,  if  not  for  the  first  time  introduced,  of  removing  from 
office  persons  well  qualified  and  who  had  faithfully  performed 
their  duty,  in  order  to  fill  the  places  with  those  who  were  recom 
mended  on  the  ground  that  they  belonged  to  the  party  in  power." 
In  speaking  of  the  extent  of  its  growth  he  stated  that  Washing 
ton  in  his  eight  years  of  service  had  made  but  nine  removals ; 
Madison  but  five,  Monroe  but  ten,  and  that,  he  whilst  Secretary 
of  War  for  more  than  seven  years,  removed  but  two,  and  that 
for  cause. 

He  says  :  ' '  So  long  as  offices  were  considered  as  public  trusts, 
to  be  conferred  on  the  honest,  the  faithful  and  capable,  for  the 
common  good,  and  not  for  the  benefit  or  gain  of  the  incumbent 
or  his  party ;  and  so  long  as  it  was  the  practice  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  continue  in  office  those  who  faithfully  performed  their 
duties,  its  patronage,  in  point  of  fact,  was  limited  to  the  mere 
power  of  nominating  to  accidental  vacancies  or  to  newly  created 
offices,  and  could,  of  course,  exercise  but  a  moderate  influence 
either  over  the  body  of  the  community,  or  of  the  officeholders 
themselves  ;  and  when  the  practice  was  reserved — when  offices, 
instead  of  being  considered  as  public  trusts,  to  be  conferred  on 
the  deserving,  were  regarded  as  the  spoils  of  victory,  to  be  be 
stowed  as  rewards  for  partisan  services  without  respect  to  merit ; 
when  it  came  to  be  understood  that  all  who  held  office,  held  by 
the  tenure  of  partisan  zeal  and  party  service  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
the  certain,  direct  and  inevitable  tendency  of  such  a  state  of 
things  is  to  convert  the  entire  body  of  those  in  office  into  cor 
rupt  and  supple  instruments  of  power,  and  to  raise  up  a  host  of 
hungry,  greedy  and  subservient  partisans,  ready  for  any  service, 
however  base  and  corrupt.  Were  a  premium  offered  for  the  best 
means  of  extending  to  the  utmost  the  power  of  patronage  ;  to 
destroy  love  of  country;  to  encourage  vice  and  discourage  virtue; 
and,  in  a  word,  to  prepare  for  the  subversion  of  liberty  and  the 


97 

establishment  of  despotism  ;  no  scheme  more  perfect  could  be 
devised  ;  and  such  must  be  the  tendency  of  the  practice,  with 
whatever  intention  adopted,  or  to  whatever  extent  pursued." 

He  then  called  attention  to  the  pledges  of  the  party  support 
ing  the  present  Administration  to  put  a  stop  to  this  enormous 
abuse,  and  he  asked  :  "  What  justification  had  been  offered  for 
so  gross  a  violation  of  their  pledges  ?"  To  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Benton  in  defence  of  the  Administration  he  made  the  following 
indignant  reply  :  "No  justification  is  even  attempted — the  de 
linquency  is  acknowledged,  and  the  only  effort  which  the  Sena 
tor  from  Missouri  has  made  to  defend  his  own  conduct  and  that 
of  the  Administration  in  adopting  the  practice  which  he  then 
denounced  is  on  the  principle  of  retaliation.  He  says  that  he 
has  been  fourteen  years  a  member  of  the  Senate,  and  that  during 
the  first  seven  no  friend  of  his  had  received  the  favor  of  the 
Government ;  and  contends  that  it  became  necessary  to  dismiss 
those  in  office  to  make  room  for  others  who  had  been  for  so  long 
a  time  beyond  the  circle  of  Executive  favor."  "What,"  Mr. 
Calhoun  asked,  "is  the  principle,  Avhen  correctly  understood, 
on  which  this  defence  rests  ?  It  assumes  that  retaliation  is  a 
principle  in  its  nature  so  sacred  that  it  justifies  the  breach  of 
plighted  faith  and  the  subversion  of  principles,  the  observance 
of  which  had  been  declared  to  be  essential  to  the  liberty  of  the 
country.  The  avowal  of  such  a  principle  may  be  justified  at 
this  time  by  interested  partisans  ;  but  a  more  impartial  tribunal 
will  regard  it  in  a  far  different  light,  and  pronounce  that  sen 
tence  which  violated  faith  and  broken  pledges  deserve. 
I  consider  it,'*  said  Mr.  Calhoun,  "as  an  evidence  of  that  deep 
degeneracy  which  precedes  the  downfall  of  a  Republic,  when 
those  elevated  to  power  forget  the  promises  on  which  they  were 
elevated  ;  the  certain  effect  of  which  is  to  make  an  impression 
on  the  public  mind  that  all  is  juggling  and  trickery  in  politics, 
and  to  create  an  indifference  to  political  struggles  highly  favor 
able  to  the  growth  of  despotic  power." 

I  am  proud  to  say,  fellow-citizens,  that  it  has  been  my  good 
fortune  to  be  associated  with  one  against  whose  administration 
the  only  criticism  which  has  been  pronounced  is  his  sacred  regard 
for  similar  promises,  and  the  unconquerable  intrepidity  with 
which  he  stands  by  them.  *  *  *  Speaking  of  the  effect  of  this 
practice  upon  the  character  of  a  party,  he  adds:  "  Their  object 


98 

is  to  get  and  to  hold  office,  and  their  leading  political  maxim, 
openly  avowed  on  this  floor  by  one  of  their  former  Senators 
from  New  York,  now  Governor  of  that  State,  Mr.  Marcy,  is  that 
'  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils  of  victory  !' — a  sentiment  reite 
rated  during  the  present  session,  as  I  understand,  by  an  influen 
tial  member  of  the  House,  and  who  had  the  assurance  to  declare 
every  man  a  hypocrite  who  does  not  avow  it.  Can  any  one  who 
will  duly  reflect  on  these  things  venture  to  say  that  all  is  sound 
and  that  our  government  is  not  undergoing  a  great  and  fatal 
change  ?  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves.  The  very  essence  of  a 
free  government  consists  in  considering  offices  as  public  trusts 
bestowed  for  the  good  of  the  country,  and  not  for  the  benefit  of 
an  individual  or  a  party,  and  that  system  of  political  morals 
which  regards  offices  in  a  different  light  as  public  prizes  to  be 
won  by  combatants  most  skilled  in  the  arts  of  political  tactics 
and  intrigue,  and  to  be  used  and  enjoyed  as  their  proper  spoils, 
strikes  a  fatal  blow  at  the  very  vitals  of  free  institutions."  Mr. 
Calhoun  said  :  "Experience  has  shown  that  there  is  a  great 
tendency  in  our  system  to  degenerate  into  this  diseased  state, 
and  I  may  venture  to  repeat — it  cannot  be  done  too  often — what 
is  stated  in  the  report,  that  whenever  the  executive  patronage 
shall  become  sufficiently  strong  to  form  a  party  based  on  its  in 
fluence  exclusively,  the  liberty  of  the  country,  should  that  state 
of  things  continue  for  any  considerable  period,  must  be  lost." 

It  gives  me  pride  and  pleasure  to  say  that  South  Carolina  has 
never  departed  from  these  great  principles.  I  cannot  refrain 
from  paying  my  tribute  of  applause  to  the  ability  and  eloquence 
and  firmness  with  which  Senator  Butler,  of  your  State,  sustained 
these  doctrines  on  the  floor  of  the  United  States  Senate.  In 
reply  to  a  vivid  and  truthful  portrayal,  by  a  political  friend,  of 
the  terrible  misgovernment  through  which  the  people  of  the 
South  had  passed,  and  to  the  inquiry  if  he  would  have  retained 
in  the  departments  at  Washington  those  who  were  engaged  in 
that  misgovernment,  he  replied  :  "  Why,  Mr.  President,  the 
people  of  the  South  rejoice  too  much  in  a  restoration  of  their 
liberty  to  care  about  the  paltry  offices  in  Washington.  *  *  * 
When  it  comes  to  a  great  question  of  this  kind  I  am  not  a 
Southern  man.  I  hope  I  represent  the  people  of  this  country 
in  desiring  the  improvement  of  its  civil  service  ;  it  is  an  object 
which  rises  high  above  considerations  of  party  or  of  section,  in 


99 

my  humble  judgment.  *  *  *  As  compared  with  the  im 
provement  of  the  civil  service  of  this  Government,  I  say  to  the 
Senator  as  a  representative  in  part  of  the  State  of  South  Caro 
lina  I  will  give  up  every  office  in  the  departments  in  Washington 
and  I  will  go  before  my  people  and  sustain  myself  upon  that 
position/'  Gen.  Wade  Hampton  has  given  the  sanction  of  his 
name  to  the  maintenance  of  these  principles  in  his  own  practical 
and  effectual  way  by  advocating  legislation  to  suppress  the  abuses 
of  Government  patronage.  As  an  individual  I  desire  to  express 
my  high  appreciation  of  the  fidelity  of  South  Carolina  to  her 
old  landmarks,  as  evinced  in  the  recent  resolutions  of  her  Legis 
lature  on  the  subject  of  civil  service  reform,  and  her  just  and 
manly  support  of  the  President's  conduct  on  this  subject.  In 
1842  Mr.  Calhoun  addressed  the  Senate  upon  an  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  offered  by  Mr.  Clay  to  abolish  the  veto  power 
of  the  President,  in  a  speech  in  which  he  discussed  with  irresis 
tible  force,  indeed,  with  overwhelming  power,  the  principles 
which  underlie  the  reciprocal  relations  of  the  different  depart 
ments  of  the  Federal  Government,  the  symmetrical  proportions 
of  the  whole  system,  and  the  marvellous  yet  admirable  combi 
nation  of  checks  and  balances  designed  for  the  perpetuation  of 
constitutional  liberty.  The  young  men  of  this  country  who 
aspire  to  statesmanship  or  public  usefulness  might  study  this 
speech  with  lasting  benefit  and  edification . 

In  1843  he  retired  from  the  United  States  Senate,  with  a  view 
to  permanent  retirement  from  public  life.  In  a  short  time, 
however,  he  was  called  to  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  by 
President  Tyler,  near  the  close  of  his  administration,  to  con 
clude  the  negotiations  for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  which  he 
accomplished  with  his  usual  ability  and  success,  a  measure  which 
added  immensely  to  the  territory,  resources  and  power  of  the 
United  States. 

In  1845  the  status  of  the  Oregon  question  was  such  that  war 
with  England  seemed  to  be  inevitable.  The  Administration  of 
Mr.  Polk  had  committed  itself  to  a  withdrawal  of  the  notice  to 
England  of  the  termination  of  the  treaty  for  the  joint  use  and 
occupation  of  that  territory,  with  a  view  to  claim  and  take  pos 
session  of  the  entire  territory  up  to  54°  40',  and  a  majority  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress  were  supposed  to  favor  the  policy.  It 
was  supported  warmly  by  Gen.  Cass  in  the  Senate,  and  the  ven- 


100 

erable  Ex-President  John  Quincy  Adams  in  the  House.  The 
former  repeatedly  declared  that  "war  is  inevitable/'  indeed, 
"almost  upon  us."  A  general  uneasiness  pervaded  the  country. 
In  Mr.  Calhoun's  own  words,  "  stocks  of  every  description  fell, 
marine  insurance  rose,  commercial  pursuits  were  suspended,  and 
our  vessels  remained  inactive  at  the  wharves."  All  over  the 
country  there  was  a  demand  that  Mr.  Calhoun,  as  the  most 
powerful  and  influential  member  of  the  Democratic  party,  should 
at  once  be  returned  to  the  Senate  to  prevent  the  carrying  out  of 
the  war  policy  of  the  new  Administration.  Mr.  Huger  resigned 
his  seat  in  the  Senate  and  Mr.  Calhoun  was  unanimously  elected 
to  take  his  place.  His  speech  on  the  Oregon  question,  soon  after 
he  took  his  seat,  was  a  masterpiece  of  political  wisdom,  sagacity 
and  rare  eloquence,  and  reveals  his  characteristic  courage.  It 
shows  the  deep  impression  which  the  war  of  1812  had  made  upon 
his  mind  with  regard  to  the  dangers  of  war  to  Republican  insti 
tutions  and  the  importance  of  avoiding  it  whenever  it  can  be 
done  with  safety  to  national  honor  or  the  rights  of  the  people. 
But  no  one  can  read  his  utterances  upon  the  grand  and  noble 
mission  of  the  American  Republic  and  harbor,  for  one  instant, 
any  doubt  as  to  his  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  his  horror  of 
every  cause  that  would  imperil  its  perpetuity. 

On  the  llth  day  of  May,  1846,  President  Polk  sent  a  message 
to  Congress  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  war  existed  between 
the  United  States  and  Mexico,  and  recommending  the  raising  of 
means  for  its  prosecution.  The  scene  was  a  solemn  one,  and 
what  occurred  was  often  spoken  of  by  the  members  of  that  body. 
A  motion  was  made  to  print  20,000  copies  of  the  message  and 
documents.  Mr.  Calhoun  rose  and  objected,  and  said  that  we 
were  on  the  eve  of  great  events,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  we 
would  proceed  calmly  and  deliberately. 

It  is  evident  that  he  foresaw  the  consequences  of  the  war  thus 
precipitated.  He  foresaw  that  it  would  result  in  the  acquisition 
of  Mexican  territory.  He  knew  that  the  aversion  of  the  North 
to  the  institution  of  slavery  would  cause  the  majority  of  Con 
gress  to  exclude  that  part  of  the  country  interested  in  this  insti 
tution  from  any  share  in  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 
admission  of  that  institution  into  the  territory  thus  acquired. 
He  knew  that  if  the  North,  with  no  interest  in  the  matter  ex 
cept  a  moral  sentiment,  was  so  determined,  it  would  be  met  with 


101 

an  equal  determination  of  resistance  by  the  Southern  States. 
He  spoke  of  this  as  the  "  terrible  difficulty  ;"  and  it  was  so  to 
him,  for  he  saw  in  it  the  elements  of  disunion  and  of  blood.  It 
has  been  said  that  it  is  easy  for  a  good  man  to  resist  wrong  when 
it  is  clearly  opposed  to  the  right,  but  when  virtue  is  opposed  to 
virtue,  is  the  real  rending  of  the  soul  in  twain.  Mr.  Calhoun 
loved  the  Union  with  religious  devotion,  but  he  loved  the  South 
also.  A  conflict  betwen  his  love  for  the  Union  and  his  love  for 
the  Southern  people — that  was  a  terrible  thing  for  him,  which 
burdened  his  heart  with  sadness  and  grief.  He  earnestly 
sought  to  prevent  the  occasion  for  renewing  the  strife  between 
the  sections.  In  his  reply  to  Mr.  Benton  he  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  Every  Senator  knows  that  I  was  opposed  to  the  war ;  but 
no  one  knows  but  myself  the  depth  of  that  opposition.  With 
my  conceptions  of  its  character  and  consequences,  it  was  impos 
sible  for  me  to  vote  for  it.  When,  accordingly,  I  was  deserted 
by  every  friend  on  this  side  of  the  House,  including  my  then 
honorable  colleague  among  the  rest  (Mr.  McDuffie,)  I  was  not 
shaken  in  the  least  degree  in  reference  to  my  course.  On  the 
passage  of  the  Act  recognizing  the  war,  I  said  to  many  of  my 
friends  that  a  deed  has  been  done  from  which  the  country  would 
not  be  able  to  recover  for  a  long  time,  if  ever  ;  and  added,  it 
has  dropped  a  curtain  between  the  present  and  the  future, 
which,  to  me,  is  impenetrable  :  and  for  the  first  time  since  I 
have  been  in  public  life  I  am  unable  to  see  the  future.  I  also 
added  that  it  has  closed  the  first  volume  of  our  political  history 
under  the  constitution,  and  opened  the  second,  and  that  no 
mortal  could  tell  what  would  be  written  in  it." 

That  second  volume  has  been  written,  and  the  world  knows 
its  contents.  We  are  now  in  the  third  volume  of  our  constitu 
tional  history.  May  its  recorded  story  correspond  with  Calhoun's 
divination  of  the  possibilities  of  our  future  destiny  as  delivered 
in  1846  in  the  Oregon  debate.  He  said  in  substance  that  "  Provi 
dence  had  given  us  an  inheritance  stretching  across  the  entire 
continent  from  ocean  to  ocean,  from  north  to  south,  covering  by 
far  the  greater  and  better  part  of  its  temperate  zone,  and  com 
prising  a  region  not  only  of  vast  extent  but  abounding  in  all 
resources,  excellent  in  climate,  fertile  and  exuberant  in  soil,  ca 
pable  of  sustaining  in  the  plentiful  enjoyment  of  all  the  neces 
saries  of  life,  a  population  of  ten  times  our  present  number. 


102 

That  our  great  mission  as  a  people  is  to  occupy  this  vast  domain; 
to  replenish  it  with  an  intelligent,  virtuous  and  industrious  pop 
ulation  ;  to  convert  the  forests  into  cultivated  fields ;  to  drain 
the  swamps  and  morasses  ani  cover  them  with  rich  harvests ; 
to  build  up  cities,  towns  and  villages  in  every  direction,  and  to 
unite  the  whole  by  the  most  rapid  intercourse  between  all  the 
parts."  He  then  rose  to  higher  grounds  and  a  broader  view  and 
stated  that  we  were  charged  by  Providence  not  only  with  the 
happiness  of  this  great  and  rising  people,  but  in  a  considerable 
degree  with  that  of  the  human  race.  After  passing  through  a 
rapid  review  of  the  great  discoveries  and  inventions,  multiplied 
beyond  all  former  examples  by  which  the  vast  powers  of  nature 
were  rendered  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  art,  to  the  spread 
of  civilization,  to  the  general  progress  of  the  nation  in  knowl 
edge  and  to  its  diffusion  through  all  ranks  of  society  ;  more  es 
pecially  to  the  two  great  agents  of  the  physical  world,  steam  and 
electricity,  "  the  latter  of  which/'  he  said,  "  had  been  made  an 
instrument  for  the  transmission  of  thought  by  lightning  itself — 
magic  wires  are  stretching  themselves  in  all  directions  over  the 
earth,  and  when  their  mystic  meshes  shall  have  been  united  and 
perfected,  our  globe  itself  will  become  endowed  with  sensitive 
ness  so  that  whatever  touches  on  any  one  point  will  be  instantly 
felt  on  every  other." 

He  declared  that  all  this  improvement  and  progress  are  but 
the  dawn  of  a  new  civilization,  more  refined,  more  elevated, 
more  intellectual,  more  moral  than  the  present  and  all  others 
preceding  him.  "  We  have  been  raised  up,"  said  he,  "by 
Providence  to  advance  these  great  and  noble  purposes. 
*  *  *  We  have  a  Government  of  a  new  order,  perfectly  dis 
tinct  from  all  others  which  have  preceded  it,  a  Government 
founded  on  the  rights  of  man,  resting  not  on  authority,  not  on 
prejudice,  not  on  superstition,  but  on  reason  and  consent.  All 
civilized  governments,  if  it  succeeds,  must  in  the  course  of  time 
conform  to  its  principles.  I  trust  we  shall  not  fail  to  fulfill  our 
highest  destiny." 

Fellow-citizens  :  The  institution  of  slavery  !  That  question 
has  been  settled.  Slavery  is  dead — buried  in  a  grave  that  never 
gives  up  its  dead.  Why  reopen  it  to-day  ?  Let  it  rest.  Yet, 
if  I  remain  silent  upon  the  subject  it  will  be  taken  as  an  admis 
sion  that  there  is  one  part  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  life  of  which  it  is 


103 

prudent  for  his  friends  to  say  nothing  to  the  present  generation. 
Dissimulation  and  evasion  were  so  foreign  to  his  character  that 
in  his  own  case  no  one  would  disapprove  and  even  disdain  such 
silence  more  than  he.  I  have  this  to  say  :  That  with  reference 
to  the  constitutional  status  of  slavery  in  the  States,  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  never  entertained  or  expressed  a  sentiment  that  was  not 
entertained  and  expressed  by  Henry  Clay,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
Daniel  Webster  and  all  the  eminent  statesmen  of  his  time.  That 
slavery  was  an  institution  of  society  in  the  States,  sanctioned 
and  upheld  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  that  it 
was  an  institution  of  property,  recognized,  protected  and  en 
forced  even  upon  the  States  where  slavery  did  not  exist,  by  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  Union  ;  that  it  was  an  institution  of 
political  power  which  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
increased  the  representation  of  the  Southern  States  on  the  floor 
of  Congress,  and  in  the  electoral  college,  was  admitted  by  every 
public  man  in  the  country  who  had  the  slightest  title  to  position 
as  a  statesman. 

The  only  difference  between  Mr.  Calhoun  on  the  one  hand, 
Webster  and  Clay  and  such  statesmen  on  the  other,  was  that  the 
measures  hostile  to  slavery  which  they  sometimes  countenanced, 
and  at  other  times  advocated,  he  saw  and  predicted  were  in  con 
flict  with  these  guarantees  in  the  Constitution,  and  that  their 
direct  tendency  and  inevitable  effect,  and,  in  many  cases,  avowed 
motive,  was  the  destruction  of  slavery  in  the  States.  And  whilst 
Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Clay  disclaimed  any  such  motive  and  de 
nied  any  such  probable  effects,  he  declared  to  Mr.  Webster  in 
debate  that  the  sentiment  would  grow  and  increase  until,  tram 
pling  down  in  its  strides  all  the  forms  of  the  Constitution,  he 
(Mr.  Webster)  would  himself  be  compelled  to  succumb  or  be 
swept  down  beneath  it. 

Vain  the  forms  of  law,  vain  the  barriers  of  the  Constitution, 
vain  the  considerations  of  State  policy.  Vain  the  eloquence  and 
the  compromises  of  statesmen.  His  predictions  were  verified  to 
the  letter.  They  were  all  swept  away  before  the  irresistible  force 
of  the  civilization  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  whose  moral  sen 
timent  demanded  the  extinction  of  slavery. 

Every  benefit  which  slavery  conferred  upon  those  subject  to 
it  ;  all  the  ameliorating  and  humanizing  tendencies  it  intro 
duced  into  the  life  of  the  African  ;  all  the  elevating  agencies 


104 

which  lifted  him  higher  in  the  scale  of  rational  and  moral  being, 
were  the  elements  of  the  future  and  inevitable  destruction  of 
the  system.  The  mistake  that  was  made  by  the  Southern  de 
fenders  of  slavery  was  in  regarding  it  as  a  permanent  form  of 
society  instead  of  a  process  of  emergence  and  transition  from 
barbarism  to  freedom.  If  at  this  very  day  the  North  or  the 
American  Union  were  to  propose  to  re-establish  the  institution 
it  would  be  impracticable  ;  the  South  could  not  at]d  would  not 
accept  it  as  a  boon.  Slavery  as  it  existed  then  could  not  exist 
under  the  present  commercial  and  industrial  systems  of  Europe 
and  America.  The  existing  industrial  relations  of  capital  and 
labor  had  there  been  no  secession,  no  war,  would  of  themselves 
have  brought-  about  the  death  of  slavery. 

Fellow-citizens,  at  the  commencement  of  my  remarks,  I  stated 
my  estimate  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  private  and  personal  character, 
also  his  character  as  a  statesman  and  a  thinker.  As  an  orator 
and  debater  he  has  often  been  described.  His  friend,  personal 
and  political,  Mr.  Khett,  speaks  of  ' l  his  earnestness  and  eleva 
tion  of  language,  which  bears  the  mind  on  as  if  on  a  swift,  deep 
current ;"  of  "his  close,  compact  logic,  which  moved  with  the 
precision  and  measured  tread  of  a  Spartan  phalanx."  Senator 
Hammond  said  of  him  :  "  The  intellect  of  Mr.  Calhoun  was 
cast  in  the  Grecian  mould,  intuitive,  profound,  original,  descend 
ing  to  the  minutest  details  of  practical  affairs,  and  soaring  aloft 
with  a  balanced  wing  into  the  highest  region  of  invention.  The 
force  of  his  imagination,  his  command  of  language,  his  enthu 
siastic  temperament,  eminently  qualified  him  for  declamation  of 
the  highest  order,  but  his  themes  were  as  well  adapted  to  it  as 
those  of  Demosthenes  himself,"  Mr.  Webster's  idea  of  him  was 
thus  expressed  :  "  The  eloquence  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  or  the  man 
ner  of  his  exhibition  of  his  sentiments  in  public,  was  part  of  his 
intellectual  character.  It  grew  out  of  the  qualities  of  his  mind. 
It  was  plain,  strong,  terse,  condensed,  concise,  sometimes  im 
passioned,  yet  always  severe." 

I  have  given  these  descriptions  by  others  of  Mr.  Calhoun's 
style,  because  I  feel  unable  to  characterize  it  in  a  manner  satis 
factory  to  my  own  mind.  I  do  not  think  elevation  of  language, 
terse,  condensed  expression,  force  of  logic,  soaring  imagination, 
earnest  feeling,  and  impassioned  declamation,  adequately  ex 
press  all  its  qualities.  I  have  thought  that  his  eloquence  was 


105 

due  more  to  the  simple  majesty  of  his  thoughts  than  to  the  dic 
tion  in  which  they  were  clothed,  or  the  logical  processes  by 
which  they  were  presented.  The  chief  quality  of  his  style  seems 
to  be  that  of  giving  the  true  impression  of  a  profound  and  ele 
vated  mind,  communicating  its  thoughts  and  feelings  to  the 
minds  of  others  in  words  plain  and  clear,  and  sentences  simple 
and  natural.  There  is  between  the  human  mind  and  truth  a 
perfect  correspondence,  it  was  created  for  truth  as  its  object, 
and  when  brought  into  contact  with  it,  the  mind  by  the  very 
law  of  its  being,  instinctively  and  intuitively  embraces  truth 
with  credence  and  faith,  unless  prejudice  or  passion  or  some 
other  agency  interposes  between  the  two  and  leads  it  away. 
Now,  Mr.  Calhoun's  style,  I  think,  had  this  great  merit  among 
those  already  mentioned,  that  it  brought  before  the  minds  of 
men  the  pure,  unsophisticated  truth  of  his  thought  as  it  existed 
in  his  own  mind.  When,  therefore,  he  spoke,  those  who  listened 
to  him  were  brought  into  communion  direct  with  his  own  great 
thoughts,  splendid  conceptions,  prophetic  foresight,  moral  gran 
deur  and  soul-kindling  passion  ;  and  they  would  feel  their  own 
minds  strengthened,  enriched,  enlarged  and  ennobled  by  the 
contact  with  his  intellectual  and  moral  nature. 

Mr.  Calhoun's  conception  of  the  duties  belonging  to  the  sta 
tion  he  occupied  indisposed  him  to  personal  controversies  or  to 
sarcastic  retorts  upon  his  opponents  ;  but  when  remarks  of  this 
character  by  them  left  him  no  other  alternative  than  to  notice 
them,  his  replies  never  failed  to  impress  all  who  heard  him  with 
the  consciousness  that  he  moved  in  a  sphere  of  thought  and  feel 
ing  far  above  the  reach  of  his  assailant.  Upon  one  occasion  a 
Senator  from  Delaware,  commenting  upon  the  distinction  which 
Mr.  Calhoun  had  drawn  between  sovereignty  itself  and  the  dele 
gation  of  sovereignty  to  the  different  departments  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  (a  distinction  now  familiar  and  never  denied,)  said  that 
this  was  metaphysical  reasoning  which  he  could  not  comprehend. 
To  this  Mr.  Calhoun  replied  as  follows  : 

"  The  Senator  from  Delaware  calls  this  metaphysical  reason 
ing,  which  he  says  he  cannot  comprehend.  If  by  metaphysics 
he  means  that  scholastic  refinement  which  makes  distinctions 
without  difference,  no  one  can  hold  it  in  more  utter  contempt 
than  I  do.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  he  means  the  power  of 
analysis  and  combination,  that  power  which  reduces  the  most 


106 

complex  idea  into  its  elements,  which  traces  causes  to  their  first 
principles,  and,  by  the  power  of  generalization  and  combination 
unites  the  whole  in  one  harmonious  system — then,  so  far  from 
deserving  contempt,  it  is  the  highest  attribute  of  the  mind.  It  is 
the  power  which  raises  the  man  above  the  brute,  which  distin 
guishes  his  faculties  from  mere  sagacity,  which  he  holds  in  com 
mon  with  inferior  animals.  It  is  this  power  which  has  raised  the 
astronomer  from  being  a  mere  gazer  at  the  stars  to  the  high  in 
tellectual  eminence  of  a  Newton  or  a  LaPlace,  and  astronomy 
itself  from  a  mere  observation  of  isolated  facts  into  that  noble 
science  which  displays  to  our  admiration  the  system  of  the  uni 
verse.  And  shall  this  high  power  of  the  mind,  which  has  effected 
such  wonders  when  directed  to  the  laws  that  control  the  material 
world,  be  forever  prohibited,  under  the  senseless  cry  of  meta 
physics,  from  being  applied  to  the  high  purposes  of  political 
science  and  legislation  ?  I  hold  them  to  be  subject  to  laws  as 
fixed  as  matter  itself,  and  to  be  as  fit  a  subject  for  the  applica 
tion  of  the  highest  political  power.  Denunciation  may  indeed 
fall  upon  the  philosophical  inquirer  into  these  first  principles, 
as  it  did  upon  Galileo  and  Bacon  when  they  first  unfolded  the 
great  discoveries  which  have  immortalized  their  names  ;  but  the 
time  will  come  when  truth  will  prevail  in  spite  of  prejudice  and 
denunciation,  and  when  politics  and  legislation  will  be  consid 
ered  as  much  a  scheme  as  astronomy  and  chemistry." 

Suggestions  of  a  touching  nature  present  themselves  to  me  at 
this  moment,  but  I  have  not  the  time  nor  the  strength  to  speak  of 
them  here.  You  will  pardon  me,  however,  for  pausing  to  express 
my  personal  gratification  at  recognizing  the  presence  of  one  who  is 
here  in  the  place  of  her  honored  and  illustrious  father  whose 
name  is  inseparably  associated  with  these  ceremonies  on  account 
of  the  eloquent  address  which  he  delivered  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  this  monument — the  Martyr,  Patriot,  and  Ora 
tor,  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  of  whom  I  can  say  truly,  as  was  said 
by  Charles  James  Fox,  "it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  we 
most  admire  the  statesman  or  love  the  man." 

I  cannot  forbear,  either,  to  allude  to  the  venerable  and  be 
loved  Carolina  matron  who,  amid  all  the  perils  of  war  and  the 
storms  of  battle,  carried,  concealed  on  her  person,  the  sacred 
fund  which  was  dedicated  to  the  erection  of  this  monument. 

Ladies  of  the  South  Carolina  Association,    I   have   attempted 


107 

to  respond  to  the  call  with  which  your  kindness  has  honored 
me.  I  regret  deeply  that  absorbing  duties  of  an  official  charac 
ter,  leaving  me  not  even  the  intermission  of  a  day  of  freedom, 
have  allowed  no  opportunity  to  prepare  for  the  performance  of 
the  task  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  theme  and  of  the  occasion. 
It  is  well  that  this  monumental  statue  on  South  Carolina's 
soil  has  been  reared  through  the  instrumentality  of  her  own 
fair  daughters.  His  life  was  one  uninterrupted  homage  to 
women. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  true  son  of  South  Carolina.  His  just 
fame  and  great  name  were  the  fruits  of  her  social  system,  and 
will  be  her  glory  when  succeeding  generations  shall  learn  and 
appreciate  the  lessons  of  political  truth  taught  by  him,  and  shall 
inhale  his  pure  spirit  of  patriotism,  his  exhalted  conception  of 
duty,  and  become  inspired  by  the  honor,  fidelity,  courage,  and 
purity  of  life  which  rooted  themselves  in  the  soul  of  the  man 
whose  statue  South  Carolina  women  have  erected  in  commemo 
ration  of  the  affectionate  reverence  with  which  they  commend 
him  to  the  honor,  love,  imitation,  and  confidence  of  mankind. 

The  Rev.  W.  F.  Junkin  next  read  the  following  ode,  by  Mrs. 
Margaret  J.  Preston: 

CALHOUN. 

BY  MARGARET  J.  PRESTON. 

[Written  by  request,  for  the  unveiling  of  the  Statue  of  John  C.  Calhoun, 
at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  April  26th,  1887.] 

I- 

Stand  forth,  stern  patriot!  calm,  severe, 

As  in  thine  hour's  supreme  elation, 
When  eager  Senates  thronged  to  hear 

The  voice  that  thrilled  a  listening  nation. 

II. 

Step  from  thy  civic  chair ;  receive 

The  homage  which  thy  people  render: 
The  best  that  grateful  hearts  can  give 

To  keep  thy  memory  fresh  and  tender. 


108 
in. 

Our  City  by  the  Sea,  while  yet 
Disaster  lays  its  grasp  upon  her, 

Remembers  her  inviolate  debt 
Of  pride  and  reverence,  love  and  honor. 

IV. 

Her  spires  may  rock,  her  towers  may  fall,- 
Her  centuried  grandeur  sink  and  perish : 

Her  homes  be  ravaged,  roof  and  wall, 
And  ruin  blast  what  most  she  cherished : 

V. 

While  yet  one  spot  stands  firm  and  fair, 

Safe  from  the  elemental  riot, 
We'll  place  our  patriot-warder  there, 

Sublime  in  his  majestic  quiet. 

VI. 

Through  life  his  watch  knew  no  surcease: 
What  then,  if  in  the  far  Elysian, 

Through  the  clear  atmosphere  of  peace, 
He  holds  us  still  in  vatic  vision ! 

VII. 

The  eye  so  keen  to  note  the  wrong, — 
The  voice  so  firm  for  law  and  order : — 

Shall  we  not  own  their  guidance  strong, 
From  mountain  crest  to  ocean  border? 

VIII. 

WTith  reverence  for  the  power  that  led 
His  mind  to  each  profound  conviction, 

We  bow  beneath  his  hand  outspread, 
And  here  receive  his  benediction! 

IX. 

TRUTH,*  with  her  mirror,  at  his  feet, 
Gives  back,  without  a  wane  of  glory, 

His  whole  consistent  life,  complete 
As  some  clear  page  of  classic  story. 


*The  four  allegoric  figures  on  the  base  of   the  monument  represent  Truth, 
Justice,  The  Constitution  and  History, 


lo 


x. 

Stern  JUSTICE  vows,  by  sword  and  shield, — 
Her  robes  of  regal  state  upon  her, — 

That  she,  as  soon  her  scales  could  yield 
As  he — his  Carolina's  honor! 

XI. 

And  in  her  sovereign  majesty, 
The  CONSTITUTION,  with  her  token 

Spread  open  on  her  bended  knee, — 
Not  one  of  all  her  fasces  broken — 

XII. 

Looks  up  to  him,  whose  giant  thrust 
Still  kept  at  bay  each  pressing  foe  man ; 

Ready  to  die, — if  die  he  must, — 

"Pro  Patria!" — grand  as  any  Roman! 

XIII. 

See !  HISTORY  takes  her  diamond  pen, 
To  trace  with  calmness  unimpassioned, 

From  first  to  last,  his  life,  -  for  when 
Was  statesman's  life  so  purely  fashioned  ?- 

XIV. 

So  tireless  in  its  aim  to  wage 

The  war  of  splendid  word  and  action : — 
So  staunch  amid  the  rant  and  rage 

Of  envious  and  ignoble  faction : — 

XV. 

So  like  a  lighthouse  on  a  rock, 

When  fast  the  surges  swirl,  and  faster; 
Still  warning  those  who  did  but  mock, 

Of  tempest,  shipwreck,  wrench,  disaster! 

XVI. 

Yet,  ere  the  onset,  doomed  to  die ! 

Disdaining  place,  and  fame  and  favor: 
— "My  Country!" — still  his  latest  sigh — 

"7  would  have  staked  my  life  to  save  her  ! 

XVII. 
Yea — when  the  stress  of  peril  came, 

And  war's  wild  ravage  sore  bestead  them, 
He  would  have  led  her  hosts  through  flame 

Of  battle,  even  as  Hampton  led  them ! 


110 

XVIII. 

He  would  have  died,  like  gallant  Bee, 
As  if  a  martyr's  crown  had  crowned  him, 

To  guard  his  State's  dear  sovereignty, 
With  her  Palmetto  flag  around  him ! 

XIX. 

Fair  Carolina!  Mid  the  names 

That  blazon  thy  heroic  pages, 
Whose  record  all  our  reverence  claims — 

Whose  words  go  sounding  down  the  ages — 

XX. 

Place  first,  placed  foremost,  proudest,  best, 
The  name  here  cut,  whose  splendid  story, 

Blown  henceward, — North,  East,  South,  and  West — 
Remains  your  heritage  of  glory ! 

The  benediction  was  then  pronounced  by  the  Rev.  John  0. 
Willson,  and  the  crowd  dispersed. 

THE  SALUTE. 

The  Vice-President's  salute  of  nineteen  guns  was  fired  at 
White  Point  Garden  as  the  statue  was  unveiled.  The  firing 
was  done  by  a  platoon  of  the  German  Artillery,  under  the  direc 
tion  of  Major  Geo.  W.  Bell,  of  Gen.  Huguenin's  staff,  the  mes 
sage  to  commence  firing  being  transmitted  to  his  father  by 
Master  Geo.  W.  Bell.  The  guns  were  handled  by  the  veteran 
members  of  the  corps,  all  of  whom  paraded  at  the  Calhoun 
funeral  thirty-seven  years  ago.  The  following  was  the  detach 
ment: 

Col.  Franz  Melchers,  commanding  officer  ;  Capt.  Hermann 
Klatte,  lieutenant  of  section;  0.  H.  Bergmann,  orderly  sergeant; 
D.  Bollmann,  ordnance  sergeant;  F.  Puckhaber,  1st  sergeant; 
F.  J.  Lilienthal,  2d  sergeant;  W.  Rieppe,  1st  corporal;  C.  Wul- 
bern,  2d  corporal. 

Cannoneers  first  piece — J.  H.  Patjens,  C.  A.  Cammann,  E. 
Albrecht,  A.  Hinchen,  G.  Dreyer. 

Cannoneers  second  piece — C.  Meyer,  M.  Bartel,  J.  J.  W. 
Luden,  C.  F.  A.  Bultmann,  H.  Viohl,  J.  C.  Schlepegrell. 


Ill 
THE  GUESTS  OF  THE  CITY. 


The  following  distinguished  citizens  were  specially  invited  to 
be  the  guests  of  the  city  during  their  visit,  with  rooms  at  the 
Charleston  Hotel. 

Hon.  L.  Q.  0.  Lamar,  Orator  of  the  Day.  Parlors  114  and 
115. 

Hon.  C.  S.  Fairchild,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Parlors  117 
and  117J. 

Hon.  Wm.  F.  Vilas,  Postmaster-General.   Parlors  138  and  139- 

Mr.  W.  W.  Corcoran.     Invited,  but  could  not  come. 

Hon.  D.  W.  Vorhees,  Senator  from  Indiana.     Parlor  134. 

Hon.  N.  H.  K.  Dawson,  Superintendent  of  Education,  De 
partment  of  the  Interior.  Parlor  134. 

L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  Jr.   Parlor  134. 

L.  Q.  Washington.   Parlor  79. 

Hon.  Hugh  S.  Thompson,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
and  Ex-Governor  of  South  Carolina,  made  all  the  arrangements 
in  Washington,  D.  C.,  for  the  accommodation  and  comfort  of 
the  distinguished  guests.  His  most  satisfactory  arrangements 
were  highly  appreciated  by  the  Ladies  of  the  Association. 


112 

ITEMS  OF  INTEREST. 


Little  Miss  Jennie  Legare  Rodgers,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  S.  H. 
Rodgers,  of  Beaufort,  and  a  lineal  descent  of  Jacob  and  Rebecca, 
Motte,  of  Revolutionary  days,  and  of  Solomon  Legare,  the 
Huguenot  patriarch,  was  in  the  city  to  participate  in  the  cere 
monies  of  Calhoun  Day. 

Among  the  visitors  to  the  city  was  Mr.  0.  Morse,  the  New 
York  agent  of  the  Associated  Press. 

Col.  Reginald  Hart,  a  prominent  member  of  the  New  York 
Bar,  was  on  the  stand. 

Col.  James  F.  Hart,  of  York,  attended  the  unveiling  cere 
monies. 

Miss  Kate  Marshall  brought  a  wreath  from  the  birthplace  of 
Calhoun. 

Among  the  most  attractive  decorations  of  the  monument 
was  a  large  basket  of  beautiful  roses,  sent  by  Mrs.  Col.  H.  M. 
Stuart,  of  Beaufort. 

Unquestionably  the  oldest  of  the  spectators  at  the  unveiling 
was  Mr.  John  S.  Bird,  Sr.,  whose  ninety-four  years  did  not  inca 
pacitate  him  from  mounting  to  a  seat  on  the  stage. 

Miss  Houston,  of  Augusta,  wore  a  silver  crescent  which  was 
presented  by  the  illustrious  statesman,  Calhoun,  to  her  grand 
mother,  who  was  his  sister. 

The  colors  used  for  veiling  the  statue  came  from  the  State 
in  which  the  great  statesman  was  educated,  Connecticut.  They 
belong  to  the  schooner  W.  W.  Converse,  of  New  Haven,  and 
were,  with  other  bunting,  lent  to  the  Association  by  Capt.  J.  H. 
Seaman. 

Mr.  James  C.  Jervey,  a  member,  bore  the  old  banner  of  the 
South  Carolina  Society  in  the  procession.  It  is  of  blue  silk,  on 
which  is  painted  the  seal  of  the  society,  a  hand  bearing  a  grape 
vine,  with  the  motto  "  Poster  itaki,"  and  the  figures  1737,  the 
date  of  the  society's  organization. 

While  the  Palmetto  Regiment  was  drawn  up  on  South  Bat 
tery,  much  attention  was  given  by  the  civilians,  who  thronged 
about  the  troops,  to  a  famous  flag  born  by  Corp.  Lynch,  of  the 
Governor's  Guards.  This  flag  was  presented  to  the  Palmetto 


113 

Regiment  in  the  City  of  Mexico  by  the  Governor  of  Kentucky. 
It  is  in  the  keeping  of  the  survivors  of  the  old  Palmetto  Regi 
ment,  and  has  been  to  all  reunions  of  Mexican  veterans  held  in 
this  State.  It  was  lent  for  this  occasion  by  Capt.  W.  B.  Stan 
ley,  of  Columbia,  who  has  been  for  many  years  its  custodian. 
The  blue  silk,  of  which  it  is  made,  is  much  faded,  and  show 
many  rents,  but  the  gold  eagle  in  heavy  bullion  embroidery, 
which  is  the  chief  design  of  this  flag,  is  as  bright  as  when  it  was 
first  raised  in  the  captured  Mexican  capital. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  young  men,  who  on  26th 
inst,  decorated  with  flowers  Mr.  Calhoun's  tomb  in  St.  Philip's 
Church-yard— E.  Opdebeck,  B.  B.  Ruddock,  H.  Purse,  S.  B. 
Bellinger,  G.  Errichsen,  H.  M.  White. 

The  Hon.  Bradish  Johnson,  of  New  Orleans,  who  recovered 
the  Powers'  statue  of  Calhoun,  which  had  been  sunk  in  New 
York  harbor,  was  specially  invited  to  attend  the  unveiling 
ceremonies.  Mr.  Johnson  was  at  the  time  in  New  York  harbor 
in  his  private  yacht,  and  at  his  own  expense  recovered  the 
statue  and  brought  it  to  Charleston,  where  he  received  an  ova 
tion  from  the  citizens.  The  celebrated  statue  was  removed 
from  its  place  in  the  City  Hall  to  Columbia  during  the  war.  It 
was  there  destroyed  by  Sherman,  according  to  Southern  author 
ities,  and  by  Hampton  according  to  Sherman,  Sunday-school 
Howard  and  other  manufacturers  of  war  history. 


LETTERS 


OF 


SOME  OF  THE  DISTINGUISHED  PERSONS 


IN 


ANSWER  TO  INVITATIONS 


TO 


TAKE  PART  IN  THE  UNVEILING  CEREMONIES 


OF   THE 


CALHOUN  MONUMENT, 


w  I  *^(®         ~y^ 

HE  following  letters  bear  testimony  of  the  respect  and 
I  regard  in  which  the  memory  of  Mr.  Calhoun  is  held  by 
_JL  many  of  the  distinguished  men  coming  after  him,  some 
of  whom  had  the  rare  fortune  of  knowing  him  personally. 
These  letters,  written  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and, 
coming  as  they  do  from  personages  who  have  been  elevated 
on  the  shield  and  placed  there  by  the  will  of  the  people,  may 
well  be  taken  as  the  general  expression  of  good  will  towards  and 
brotherly  love  for  the  great  and  good  Carolinian.  They  show 
the  sympathy  of  this  large-hearted  country  is  in  unison  with 
the  women  of  South  Carolina  for  fixing  in  bronze  and  granite  a 
centre  of  history,  and,  for  paying  this  their  tribute  of  love  to  a 
gentle,  pure  and  upright  man: 

BEAUVOIR,  Miss.,  April  16,  1887. 
Mrs.  George  Robertson,  President,  &c. : 

DEAR  MADAME — Accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  invitation 
to  myself  and  family  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
ladies'  monument  to  Calhoun.  I  regret  that  it  will  not  be  in 
our  power  to  attend,  for  besides  the  veneration  and  affection  of 
Mrs.  Davis  and  myself  for  the  great  and  pure  statesman  to 
whose  memory  you  do  honor,  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  us  to  pay 
this  tribute  of  duty  and  respect. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  to  me  the  guiding  star  in  the  political  firma 
ment  and  I  was  honored  by  him  with  such  confidence  as  made 
our  intercourse  not  only  instructive,  but  of  enduring  love.  In 
an  important  crisis  in  public  affairs,  his  health  failed,  but  with 
that  devotion  to  the  public  welfare  which  had  characterized  his 
whole  life,  he  continued  to  occupy  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  when 
his  indomitable  spirit  was  vainly  struggling  against  his  physical 
exhaustion.  His  wisdom  and  extraordinary  administrative  tal 
ent  were  then  specially  required  to  teach,  direct  and  sustain, 
but  he  was  taken  from  us 

*k|Like  a  summer  dried  fountain, 
When  our  need  was  the  sorest." 


118 

Mr.  Webster,  who  had  been  his  great  intellectual  opponent, 
but,  nevertheless,  his  warm  personal  friend,  when  speaking,  on 
the  occasion  of  his  death,  manifested  deeper  emotion  than  I  ever 
knew  him  to  exhibit  on  any  other  occasion.  He  impressively 
said,  nothing  that  was  selfish  or  impure  ever  came  near  the  head 
or  heart  of  Calhoun. 

I  am  gratified  that  the  ladies — the  best  part  of  humanity- 
have  contributed  this  testimonial  to  one  blameless  as  themselves. 

Please  tender  with  my  regrets  my  grateful  acknowledgments 
to  your  associates  for  their  courteous  invitation,  in  which  my 
wife  cordially  unites,  and  believe  me  to  be, 

Respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Mrs.  George  Robertson,  President ;  Mrs.  Joseph  Walker,  Vice- 
President ;  Mrs.  Henry  Wig  fall,  Vice-President ;  Mrs. 
H.  W.  DeSaussure,  Vice-President ;  Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden, 
Treasurer  ;  Mrs.  Joseph  Blackman,  Corresponding  Secretary; 
Miss  Fannie  E.  DeSaussure,  Recording  Secretary. 

Mrs.  George  Robertson  and  Ladies  Associated  in  Connection  ivith 

the  Calhoun  Monument : 

ESTEEMED  LADIES — Accept  my  many  thanks  for  your  con 
siderate  courtesy,  allow  me,  however,  to  beseech  you  to 
condone  my  absence  on  the  interesting  occasion. 

After  so  many  years  of  quiet  routine,  in  a  delightful  loca 
tion,  which  has  procured  for  me  perfect  health  and  contentment^ 
at  my  extreme  age,  any  change  will  be  a  hazardous  episode  ;  not 
that  I  care  for  the  extinguishing  of  the  lamp,  but  I  would  avoid 
the  possible  previous  flickering. 

Very  respectfully,  yours, 

*  JAMES  EDWARD  COLHOUN. 

Trotter's  Shoals,  Abbeville  Co.,  April  18,  1887. 


LLOYD'S,  ESSEX  COUNTY,  VA.,  April  19,  1887. 
Mr.  H.  E.  Young,  Chairman  Auxiliary  Committee: 

I  received  the  kind  and  complimentary  invitation  from  the 
ladies  of  the  Association  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  Cal- 


*The  brother-in-law  of  J.  C.  Calhoun. 


119 

houn's  statue,  and  sincerely  regret  my  inability  to  attend. 
I  could  not  undertake  the  fatigue  of  the  journey,  but  none 
will  be  there  who  feel  a  more  ardent  admiration  for  the  great 
Carolinian,  or  who  would  desire  more  earnestly  to  honor  his 
memory.  Please  tender  my  thanks  to  the  ladies  of  the  Associa 
tion,  and  with  sincere  respect, 

I  am,  very  truly, 

R.   M.  T.  HUNTER. 


WASHINGTON,  April  8,  1887. 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden,  Charleston,  8.  C.  : 

DEAR  MADAME — I  am  obliged  by  the  card  of  invitation  to  the 
unveiling  ceremonies  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  on  the  26th 
instant,  accompanied  by  your  personal  card,  and  beg  to  say  that 
if  I  am  well  enough  at  that  time,  I  will  certainly  have  pleasure 
in  being  present  on  that  interesting  occasion. 

With  thanks  for  your  kind  remembrance,  I  remain, 
Very  truly,  yours, 

W.  W.  CORCORAN. 


CITY  OF  CHARLESTON,         | 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  April  15,  1887.  \ 
Mr.  W.  W.  Corcoran,  Washington,  D.  C.  : 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  have  just  seen  your  letter  of  the  8th  ad 
dressed  to  Mrs.  Snovvden,  in  which  you  kindly  express  the  hope 
that  you  will  be  able  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Cal 
houn  Monument  on  the  26th  instant.  I  hasten  to  say  that  your 
coming  here  on  this  occasion  would  be  exceedingly  gratifying  to 
the  people  of  Charleston,  and  I  cordially  invite  you  to  do  so  as 
the  guest  of  the  City  of  Charleston. 

I  have  engaged  rooms  for  you  at  the  Charleston  Hotel,  and 
will  feel  greatly  honored  if  you  will  kindly  send  me  a  dispatch 
stating  by  what  train  you  will  reach  here,  in  order  that  I  might 
meet  you  in  person  and  welcome  you  to  the  city. 
Yours,  very  respectfully, 

WM.  A.  COURTENAY,  Mayor. 


120 

WASHINGTON,  April  18,  1887. 
The  Hon.  Wm.  A.  Courtenay,  Mayor  of  Charleston,  S.  C. : 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  have  received  your  favour  of  the  15th  instant, 
inviting  me  to  visit  your  city,  as  its  guest,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  the  illustrious  Calhoun. 

I  thank  you  most  cordially  for  the  honour  you  have  done  me 
and  greatly  regret  that  the  state  of  rny  health  admonishes  me 
that  it  is  too  long  a  journey  for  me  to  undertake  at  my  time  of 
life  and  in  the  present  state  of  my  health.  Thanking  you  for 
the  Very  kind  and  courteous  manner  in  which  you  have  con 
veyed  to  me  the  invitation,  and  with  warm  wishes  for  the  welfare 
of  the  people  of  the  city,  and  for  yourself  personally,  I  am, 
dear  sir, 

Very  truly,  yours, 

W.  W.  CORCORAN. 


WASHINGTON,  April  20,  1887. 
Mrs.  M.  A.  8nowden,  Charleston,  8.  C.  : 

DEAR  MADAME — I  have  received  your  favour  of  the  18th, 
and  appreciate  your  kind  invitation,  but  the  state  of  my  health 
is  such  that  I  have  been  compelled  to  abandon  the  trip,  and  do 
ing  myself  the  great  pleasure  I  had  anticipated  ;  and  I  have  so 
informed  Mr.  Courtenay  in  response  to  his  very  cordial  invitation 
to  become  the  guest  of  the  city.  Neither  of  my  grand-children 
are  at  home,  two  of  them  being  at  Aiken  and  the  other  at 
college.  Greatly  regretting  my  inability  to  be  present  on  the 
interesting  occasion,  I  remain, 

Sincerely,  yours, 

W.  W.  CORCORAN. 


WASHINGTON,  April  26,  1887. 
Hon.  Wm.  A.  Courtenay,  Charleston,  8.  C.  : 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  have  to  confirm  my  dispatch  of  the  23d  inst., 
P.  M.,  that  "  Though  in  my  ordinary  health,  lam  advised  by  my 
physician  and  by  all  my  friends  that  it  would  be  imprudent  for 
me  to  make  a  fatiguing  journey  to  Charleston.  I  yield  to  their  ad- 


121 

vice  most  reluctantly,  and,  in  foregoing  my  promised  visit,  I  beg 
leave  to  renew  to  you  and  to  the  people  of  Charleston  my  pro 
found  thanks  for  the  courtesy  with  which  I  have  been  honored;" 
and  I  beg  again  to  renew  the  expression  of  my  great  regret  and 
disappointment  in  being  unable  to  join  you  in  the  interesting 
ceremonies  of  the  occasion.  But  my  general  inability  to  undergo 
fatigue  adrjionishes  me  to  forego  the  great  pleasure  I  anticipated 
and  abide  by  the  advice  of  my  medical  adviser,  seconded  by  all 
my  friends;  and  I  avail  myself  of  the  only  pleasure  that  is  left 
me,  to  repeat  my  profound  sensibility  of  the  honor  you  have 
done  me,  and  of  my  wishes  for  the  welfare  of  your  people. 
I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

Very  truly,  yours, 

W.  W.  CORCORAN. 


WASHINGTON,  May  2,  1887. 
Dear  Mrs.  Snowden  : 

I  have  your  favor  of  the  28th  of  April,  with  the  beautiful 
badge  intended  for  me,  on  the  occasion  of  the  unveiling  of  the 
Calhoun  Monument.  You  could  not  have  been  more  disap 
pointed  than  I  was  in  not  being  able  to  be  present,  but  there 
was  no  hope  for  it. 

Please  accept  my  thanks  for  the  badge,  which  I  will  keep  as  a 
souvenir,  while  I  remain,  with  very  kind  regards, 

Yours  truly, 

W.  W.  CORCORAN. 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Snowden,  Charleston,  8.  G. 


BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS,  ) 

90  MARLBOROUGH  STREET,  April  14,  1887.  j 
Mrs.  George  Robertson,  President  : 

MY  DEAR  MADAME — I  am  greatly  honored  by  the  invitation 
of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  and  I  regret  sin 
cerely  that  it  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  be  with  them  on  the 
26th  instant.  It  would  afford  me  real  pleasure  to  witness  the 
unveiling  of  a  statue  of  the  illustrious  statesman  of  the  South, 


122 

whom  it  was  my  privilege  to  know  personally  at  Washington, 
and  for  whose  memory  I  have  always  cherished  a  warm  regard 
and  respect. 

Most  gladly  would  I  pay  renewed  homage  to  the  unsullied 
purity  of  his  private  life,  the  inflexible  integrity  of  his  public 
career,  and  the  unsurpassed  ability  which  he  displayed  in  every 
department  of  OUT  Federal  Government. 

Accept,  dear  Madame,  for  yourself  and  the  ladies  associated 
with  you,  my  most  grateful  acknowledgments,  and  believe  me, 
Respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

ROBERT  0.  WINTHROP. 


STUYVESANT  SQUARE,  N.  W.  CORNER  I?TH  STREET,      ) 

NEW  YORK,  April  21,  1887.  ) 
To    the    Ladies'   Calhoun    Monument  Association,    Charleston, 

8.  C.: 

I  regret  my  inability  to  accept  the  invitation  with  which 
you  have  honored  me,  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies 
of  your  monument  to  Calhoun,  on  the  26th  mst. 

If  high  intellectual  gifts,  if  spotless  purity  in  both  public  and 
private  life,  if  the  earnest  following  of  the  honest  convictions  of 
one's  mind,  if  great  public  services,  entitled  a  man  to  have  his 
name,  his  fame  and  his  memory  perpetuated  to  future  ages,  by 
monuments  and  symbols,  unquestionably  Mr.  Calhoun  is  emi 
nently  thus  entitled. 

During  a  long  and  active  life ;  amid  fierce  differences  of 
thought  on  questions  of  grave  and  of  burning  interest,  his 
strong  views  were  never  withheld,  nor  were  the  honesty  and 
sincerity  of  his  convictions  ever  questioned,  and  the  widest  dis 
sent  from  his  opinions  was  ever  attended  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  sincerity  and  the  purity  in  which  they  were  entertained, 
and  with  an  appreciation  of  the  force,  with  which  they  were 
maintained. 

Your  invitation  gives  me  the  welcome  opportunity  to  congrat 
ulate  you  on  the  completion  of  your  beautiful  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  a  great  man ;  and  to  express  my  appreciation,  ( amid 
many  differences  of  views  on  some  public  questions,)  of  the  high 


123 


integrity,  and  great  public  services  ;  and  my  admiration  of  the 
lofty  genius  of  Mr.  Calhoun. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  ladies, 

Your  very  obedient  servant, 

HAMILTON  FISH. 


LAW  OFFICE  OF  W.  W.  HARLLEE, 

MARION,  S.  C.,  April  20,,  188' 
Dear  Mrs.  Snowden  : 

I  beg  leave  to  acknowledge  with  thanks  and  gratification  the 
invitation  of  your  association,  to  attend  the  ceremonies  of  the 
unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monument,  on  26th  inst.  Nothing 
could  afford  me  more  pleasure  than  to  be  a  living  witness  to  the 
honors  shown  to  the  great  statesman  and  patriot,  whom  I 
personally  knew  well,  and  whose  counsels  and  teachings  in  social 
converse,  and  written  communications,  which  I  yet  treasure, 
have  had,  I  trust,  a  proper  influence  in  my  public  life.  Men 
may  talk,  and  exhalt  the  virtues  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  but  it  has 
been  the  patient,  unwearying  and  ceaseless  energy  of  our  noble 
women  of  the  State,  which  gives  the  enduring  evidence  of  their 
appreciation  to  the  pure  and  spotless  character  of  her  beloved 
and  gifted  son . 

Future  history,  if  impartial,  will  place  the  women  of  South 
Carolina  at  the  front  rank  of  all  civilization,  yet  published  or 
known.  The  trials  which  they,  in  common  with  their  South 
ern  sisters,  endured  in  the  troublous  times,  now  passing  away, 
with  their  unconquerable  heroism  and  pride,  can  but  place 
them  the  equals,  if  not  the  superiors,  of  the  mother  of  the 
Gracchi. 

And  you  my  estemed  and  valued  friend,  "plenteous  in  good 
works"  should  rank  as  a  shining  star,  in  the  ovations  which 
will  become  the  historic  tribute  to  the  noble,  the  good,  and  gen 
erous  self-devotion  of  the  patriot  woman. 

With  my  best  wishes  for  the  success,  now  assured,  of  your  un 
dertaking.  I  am,  respectfully  and  truly, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  W.  HARLLEE. 


124 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  23,  1887. 
Dear  Mrs.  Snowden: 

I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  the  beautiful  card  which 
tells  me  that  I  am  remembered  in  the  festivities  and  joys  of 
your  people. 

My  heart  will  be  with  you  on  that  day,  and  may  the   blessing 
of  the  good  Lord  and  Father  of  us  all  be  with  you  as  well. 
Yours  lovingly,  and  always, 

CLARA  BARTON, 
President  Am.  Nat.  Red  'Cross. 


ST.  CHARLES  HOTEL,  NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. 
To  the  Ladies  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  Association  : 

Mrs.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  sents  her  thanks  to  the  Ladies 
of  the  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  for  their  kind  invitation, 
and  regrets  the  impossibility  to  be  with  them  on  the  26th  of 
April,  when  Carolina  will  pay  tribute  to  the  talents,  worth  and 
greatness  of  her  favorite  son,  the  Orator  and  Statesman,  whom 
the  whole  South  takes  pride. 

The  ladies  will  please  accept  Mrs.  Johnston's  congratulations 
upon  the  event.  Very  respectfully, 

ELIZA  GRIFFIN  JOHNSTON. 


The  MISSES  SLOMAN  return  their  sincere  and  heartfelt 
thanks  to  the  Ladies  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  for 
their  kind  invitation  for  the  unveiling  of  the  monument.  They 
regret  exceedingly  that  it  is  not  in  their  power  to  be  present  on 
the  occasion,  but  although  absent,  will  rejoice  with  them  at  the 
completion  of  their  noble  enterprise,  and  in  the  words  of  the 
poet  exclaim: — 

"  The  shaft  is  up,  with  prayer  on  high, 

Let  all  rejoice  who  can, 
His  name's  immortal.     It  cannot  die, 
While  there's  gratitude  in  man." 

25  W.  18th  St.,  New  York  City,  ) 
April  21,  1887.  j 


125 

TULANE  UNIVERSITY  OF  LOUISIANA,  ) 
NEW  ORLEANS,  April  17,  1887.         j 
Col.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman  Committee,  Charleston,  8.  C.: 

DEAR  SIR  : — Permit  me  to  return  to  you  my  sincere  thanks  for 
your  polite  invitation  to  attend  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of 
Calhoun. 

I  regret  that  my  engagements  will  prevent  my  attendance. 
There  is  no  man  in  American  history  whom  I  would  more  rejoice 
to  honor.  The  severe  simplicity  of  his  character,  the  inexorable 
accuracy  of  logic  and  the  undefined  purity  of  his  patriotism  con 
stitute  him  the  very  ideal  of  a  statesman.  I  claim  a  part  in  the 
heritage  he  has  left  us,  for  the  fundamental  principles  of  his 
constitutional  theory,  however  varied  or  modified  by  time  and 
altered  circumstances,  must  remain  as  the  eternal  foundation  of 
all  true  Federal  Republican  Government. 

The  monument  to  Calhoun  is  not  only  a  noble  memorial  to  a 
great  and  pure  man,  but  a  perpetual  evidence  of  the  fidelity  to 
principle  of  our  people. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain,  my  dear  sir, 

Very  sincerely  and  respectfully  yours, 

WM.  PRESTON  JOHNSTON. 


WASHINGTON  AND  LEE  UNIVERSITY,         | 
LEXINGTON,  VIRGINIA,  April  9,  1887.  f 
Mrs.  Joseph  Blackman,  Charleston,  8.  C.  : 

DEAR  MADAME — Gen.  Custis  Lee,  being  unable  to  write,  ow 
ing  to  a  disabled  hand,  desires  me  to  acknowledge  your  invita 
tion  for  the  26th  instant,  but  regrets  that  he  will  be  unable  to 
attend  the  unveiling  ceremonies,  his  health  and  duties  prevent 
ing.  Miss  Mary  Lee  is,  at  present,  abroad,  and  the  invitation 
to  her  will  be  forwarded  at  the  first  opportunity. 
Very  respectfully, 

W.  C.  LUDWIG,  Private  Secretary. 


COLUMBIA,  April  14,  1887. 
The  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association  : 

LADIES — Your  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  cere 
monies  of  vour  monument  to  Calhoun  has  been  received. 


126 

Brought  up,  politically,  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  it  is  meet 
that  I  should  join  in  doing  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  greatest 
expounder  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  it  was 
handed  down  by  the  fathers. 

If  a  recent  sickness  does  not  prevent,  I  shall,  with  pleasure, 
be  present  to  witness  the  completion  of  your  noble  and  patriotic 
work.  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  ladies, 

Yours,  very  truly, 

M.  L.  BONHAM. 


DEPARTMENT  or  JUSTICE,         ) 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  9,  1887.  j 
//.   E.  Young,  Esq.,  Charleston,  S.  C.  : 

DEAR  SIR — I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  invitation 
to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  on  the 
26th  instant,  and  to  say  it  would  give  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure 
if  I  could  accept  it.  The  occasion  is  one  of  great  interest  and 
I  am  glad  the  Association  has  been  so  successful  in  carrying  out 
its  plans.  The  conditions  of  the  public  business,  however,  com 
pel  me  to  decline  all  invitations  of  this  kind,  so  that  I  regret  to 
say  I  cannot  be  present  011  this  occasion. 

With  kindest  wishes  for  the  Association  and  thanks  for  the 
courtesy  shown  me, 

I  am,  yours  truly, 

A.  H.  EAKLE. 


EXECUTIVE  MANSION,         ) 
WASHINGTON,  April  19,  1887.  j 
Henry  E.    Young,  Chairman,  &c.  : 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  am  sorry  that  I  must  decline  the  invitation, 
which  I  have  received,  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  on  the 
26th  instant. 

The  ladies  of  the  Monument  Association  have  good  reason  for 
pride  and  congratulation  in  the  complete  success  of  their  efforts 
to  fittingly  commemorate  the  virtues  and  the  services  of  their 
loved  and  honored  son  of  South  Carolina. 


127 

I  believe  it  would  be  well  if  all  he  did,  and  even  all  he  be 
lieved  and  taught,  and  all  his  aspirations  for  the  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  our  Republic,  were  better  known  afld  understood. 
If  this  were  so,  much  would  be  found  to  enlighten  and  encourage 
those  charged  with  public  duty,  and  much  to  stimulate  patriotic 
enthusiasm. 

The  ceremonies  attending  the  unveiling  of  the  monument 
erected  by  his  ardent  admirers  in  the  State  which  bears  the  im 
press  of  his  renown,  should  furnish  an  occasion  for  such  an  in 
structive  illustration  of  his  character  as  shall  inspire  in  the 
minds  of  all  his  countrymen,  genuine  respect  and  admiration 
for  his  courage  and  self-abnegation,  toleration  when  approval  of 
his  opinions  is  withheld,  and  universal  pride  in  the  greatness  of 
this  illustrious  American. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  11,  1887. 
H.  E.  Young,  Charleston,  S.  C.  : 

DEAK  SIR — I  am  indebted  for  your  courteous  note  of  the  4th 
instant,  and  the  invitation  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument 
Association,  with  which  I  am  honored,  to  be  present  in  Charles 
ton,  on  the  26th  instant,  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  of 
that  great  American  statesman,  John  C.  Calhoun. 

The  duties  that  surround  me  will  not  allow  me  to  absent  my 
self  from  Washington,  and  with  sincere  regret  I  am  compelled 
to  forego  the  pleasure  of  being  present  on  that  interesting 
occasion. 

The  erection  of  the  monument  is  an  act  of  patriotic  grati 
tude,  and  cannot  fail  importantly  to  impress  upon  this  and  suc 
cessive  generations  the  power  of  art  to  portray  and  perpetuate 
virtuous  humanity  as  exhibited  in  the  moral  and  intellectual 
majesty  of  the  great  Carolinian. 

So  long  as  the  pure  name  and  white  fame  of  Mr.  Calhoun 
shall  be  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  our  people,  unscrupulous 
ambition  and  unworthy  political  methods  will  be  rebuked,  and 
the  public  conscience  strengthened  in  admiration  of  that  home* 


128 

bred  integrity,  simple  and  lucid  wisdom  and  lofty  personal  hon 
our,  of  which  he  was  so  noble  a  type  and  exemplar. 

The  regret  for  my  absence  is  increased  by  the  deprivation  of 
listening  to  the  orator  happily  selected  for  the  impressive  occa 
sion — my  friend  and  colleague,  Mr.  Lamar — whose  affinity  to 
the  subject  of  his  oration  guarantees  its  truthfulness  and  justice, 
and  whose  eloquence  secures  its  embalmment  in  words  worthy  of 
Mr.  Calhoun  and  himself. 

Your  friend  and  fellow- citizen, 

T.  F.  BAYARD. 


TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,          ) 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  22,  1887.  j 

MY  DEAR  SIR — Enclosed  you  will  find  my  formal  acceptance 
of  the  invitation  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  Association  to  at 
tend  the  unveiling  ceremonies  on  the  26th  instant.  I  have  de 
layed  my  answer  until  now  because  it  has  been  impossible  for 
me  to  determine  whether  or  not  I  could  gratify  my  very  strong 
desire  to  accept.  I  hope  that  my  apology  will  be  accepted  by 
the  ladies  of  the  Association. 

Governor  Thompson  has  duly  notified  your  committee  by  tel 
egraph  of  my  intention  to  be  present  on  the  26th. 
Yours  respectfully, 

CHARLES  S.  FAIRCHILD. 
Mr.  H.  E.  Young. 


TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON. 

Mr.  Charles  S.  Fairchild  accepts  with  pleasure  the  polite  invi 
tation  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association  to  be  pres 
ent  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  their  monument  to  Calhoun 
on  Apil  26th,  1887. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  April  22,  1887. 


WAR  DEPARTMENT,  OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY,      [ 
WASHINGTON,  April  7,  1887.  j 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  am  in  receipt  of  the  invitation  of  the  Ladies' 
Calhoun  Monument  Association  of  Charleston  to  attend  the  un- 


129 

veiling  of  the  monument  erected  by  them  to  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Calhoim,  which  takes  place  in  your  city  on  the  26th  instant. 

It  would  give  me  pleasure  to  be  present  upon  such  occasion, 
but  my  engagements  are  so  pressing  at  the  Capital  that  I  find  it 
will  be  impossible  for  me  to  attend,  and  I  beg  that  you  will  con 
vey  to  the  Association  my  regrets  at  being  unable  to  witness  the 
ceremony  of  the  dedication  of  the  monument  which  will  be  as 
lasting  as  the  name  and  fame  of  South  Carolina's  most  distin 
guished  son. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

WILLIAM  C.  ENDICOTT. 

Mr.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman  Auxiliary  Committee,  Charles 
ton,  8.  'C.  : 


NAVY  DEPARTMENT,  OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY,      ] 
WASHINGTON,  April  9,  1887.  \ 

DEAR  SIR — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
the  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  the 
Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 
on  Tuesday,  April  26th,  1887,  and  regret  my  engagements  are 
such  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  accept. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

W.  C.  WHITNEY. 
Mr.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman,  &c. 


TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,      ) 
WASHINGTON,  April  23,  1887.  ) 
Mrs.  George  Robertson,  President  : 

DEAR  MADAME — I  regret  that  important  public  duties  which 
will  detain  me  here  will  prevent  my  acceptance  of  the  invita 
tion  to  be  present  on  the  26th  instant,  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
statue  of  John  C.  Calhoun.  If  it  were  possible  for  me  to  attend 
it  would  give  me  sincere  pleasure  to  witness  the  ceremonies 
which  will  make  the  consummation  of  the  great  work  which 
will  stand  for  all  time  to  commemorate  the  virtues  of  the  patriot 


130 

and  statesman,  as  well  as  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  the  noble 
women  to  whom  South  Carolina  is  indebted  for  this  memorial  of 
her  most  illustrious  son. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  dear  Madame, 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

HUGH  S.  THOMPSON. 


STATE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA,         ) 
EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  COLUMBIA,  April  6,  1887.  j 
Hon.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman  Auxiliary  Committee,  Charles 
ton,  8.  C. : 

DEAR  SIR — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
yours  of  the  4th,  enclosing  the  request  of  "  The  Ladies'  Cal- 
houn  Monument  Association  "  that  I  should  be  present  at  the 
unveiling  ceremonies  of  their  monument  to  Calhoun,  on  April 
26th,  1887. 

It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  attend  on  an  occasion  of  such 
interest  and  importance  both  to  the  State  and  City  of  Charles 
ton,  and  to  aid  in  doing  honor  to  Carolina's  greatest  statesman. 
Yours,  very  respectfully, 

J.  P.  RICHARDSON. 


UNITED  STATES  COURTS  FOR  SOUTH  CAROLINA,      ) 
CHARLESTON,  S.  C.,  April  21,  1887.  j 

//.  E.  Young,  Esq.,  Chairman  Calhoun  Monument  Association : 
MY  DEAR  SIR — It  will  give  me  much  pleasure  in  accepting 
the  invitation,  with  which  you  have  honored  me,  to  attend  the 
ceremony  of  unveiling  the  statue  of  Mr.  Calhoun  on  the  26th 
instant. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

CHARLES  H.  SIMONTON. 


COLUMBIA,  April  7,  1887. 
Col.  H.  E.  Young,  Charleston  : 
MY  DEAR  COL. — Please  accept  my  sincere  thanks  for  the  in 


131 

vitations  just  received.     I  will  take  great  pleasure  in  handing 
one  each  to  my  brothers  of  the  Bench. 

I  cannot  say  now  whether  we  will  adjourn  and  attend  or  not. 
1  shall  favor  it. 

I  think  Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  greatest  inspired  man  that  ever 
lived,  and  we  Carolinians  should  never  forget  him. 
Very  respectfully,, 

W.  D.  SIMPSON. 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 
OFFICE  OF  SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C.,  April  11,  1887. 
To    Hon.    H.     E.     Young,    Chairman  Auxiliary   Committee, 
Charleston,  S.   C.  : 

DEAR  SIR — 1  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  your  invitation 
to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  the  Calhoun  Mon 
ument  on  the  26th  instant,  for  which  please  accept  my  thanks. 
To  witness  an  event  of  so  much  interest — one  which  not  only 
does  honor  to  the  memory  of  Carolina's  great  statesman,  but  is 
alike  honorable  to  our  people — would  give  me  much  pleasure, 
but  I  fear  that  I  will  not  be  able  to  be  present. 

Trusting  that  you  may  have  a  glorious  time  and  that  the  mon 
ument  may  for  all  time  to  come  stimulate  the  boys  and  young 
men  of  South  Carolina  to  emulate  the  virtues  of  the  great 
statesman. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Very  respectfully, 

W.  Z.  LEITNBR. 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  ) 

OFFICE  OF  COMPTROLLER-GENERAL, 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C.,  April  11,  1887.  ) 

Col.  Henry  E.    Young,  Chairman   Gentlemen  Auxiliary   Com 
mittee,  Charleston,  S.  C.  : 

DEAR  SIR — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  an  in 
vitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  erected 
by  the  ladies  of  Carolina  to  the  memory  of  John  C.  Calhoun. 


132 

If  nothing  unforseen  prevents,  I  shall  certainly  attend,  for  hav 
ing,  as  21  cadet,  participated  in  the  ceremonies  of  laying  the  cor 
ner-stone  of  this  great  work,  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  it  will  give 
me  peculiar  pleasure  to  witness  its  completion. 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  E.  STONEY, 
Comptroller-  General. 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  ) 

OFFICE  OF  THE  ADJUTANT  AND  INSPECTOR  GENERAL, 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C.,  April  8,  1887.  ) 
Hon.  Henry  E.  Young.  Charleston,,  S.  C. : 

DEAR  SIR — You  letter  of  4th  April,  containing  an  invitation 
to  me  officially,  and  through  me  to  the  military  of  the  State  to  be 
present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monument,  was  forward 
ed  to  me  from  Columbia.  I  will  take  immediate  steps  to  make 
the  invitation  known  to  the  military.  And  have  already  direct 
ed  that  those  organizations  which  contemplate  going,  shall  send 
to  you  and  Gen.  Huguenin,  at  the  earliest  moment,  notice  of 
their  intention. 

Please  express  to  the  Association  my  appreciation  of  their 
courtesy  to  me  officially,  and  through  me  to  the  military  of  the 
State.  Very  respectfully, 

M.  L.  BONHAM,  JR., 

A.  &  I.  G. 


ORANGEBURG,  S.  C.,  April  14,  1887. 

Col.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman    Gentlemen   Auxiliary    Com 
mittee  Calhoun  Monument  Association: 

MY  DEAR  SIR — The  invitation  to  attend  the  unveiling  of  the 
Calhoun  Monument  reached  my  home  during  my  absence  from 
tjie  State.  On  my  return,  permit  me  to  express  the  pleasure  I 
feel  in  accepting  it. 

In  these  days  of  modern  politics,  it  is  as  salutary,  as  it  is  re 
freshing,  to  return  to  the  careful  study  of  those  great  princi 
ples  upon  which  our  Federal  Government  rests,  as  a  foundation, 


133 

and  to  join  in  honor  to  the  great  South  Carolinian,  who  was  the 
faithful  expounder  and  stalwart  defender  of  the  constitution,  as 
it  was  framed  by  the  Fathers. 

I  remain,  dear  sir, 
Very  truly  yours, 

SAMUEL  DIBBLE. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA  MILITARY  ACADEMY, 
OFFICE  OF  SUPERINTENDENT  AT  THE  CITADEL, 

CHARLESTON,  S.  C.,  April  G,  1887. 
Mr.  H.  E.  Young,  Chairman,  Charleston,  S.  C.: 

DEAR  SIR — Your  esteemed  favor  of  the  14  mst.,  conveying  to 
the  officers  and  cadets  of  the  South  Carolina  Military  Academy, 
the  invitation  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association  to 
attend  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  their  monument  to  Calhoun, 
on  Tuesday,  the  26th  inst.,  at  10  o'clock  A.  M.,  has  been  re 
ceived. 

On  behalf  of  the  officers  and  cadets  of  the  Academy,  I  accept 
the  invitation,  and  beg  you  to  convey  to  the  ladies  of  the  associ 
ation  our  high  appreciation  of  their  kindness. 
Respectfully, 

GEORGE  D.  JOHNSTON, 
Superintendent. 


THE  STATE  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE,          J 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

CONCORD,  April  7,  1887.  ) 
Henri/  E.  Young,  Esq.: 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  regret  that  circumstances  will  prevent  me 
from  being  present  at  the  ceremonies  of  the  unveiling  of  the 
monument  to  Calhoun  on  the  26th  instant,  to  which  the  ladies 
of  Charleston  have  so  kindly  invited  me. 

The  name  and  fame  of  John  C.  Calhoun  will  live  longer  than 
any  monument  erected  to  his  memory  by  human  hands. 
Many  thanks  for  the  courtesy  of  the  invitation. 
Very  truly  yours, 

MOODY  CURRIER. 

18 


134 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,         J 

EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,     [• 

ALBANY,  April  7,  1887. ) 

DEAR  SIR — I  am  desired  by  Governor  Hill  to  acknowledge 
and  thank  you  for  the  cordial  invitation  extended  on  behalf  of 
the  Ladies'  Calhoim  Monument  Association  of  Charleston,  re 
questing  his  presence  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monu 
ment  on  April  26th. 

Much  as  it  would  afford  the  Governor  pleasure  to  accept  the 
courteous  invitation  thus  extended,  he  regrets  that  his. other  en 
gagements  are  such  that  it  will  be  impossible  for' him  to  do  so. 
I  am,  very  respectfully  yours, 

WILLIAM  G.  EICE, 

Private  Secretary. 
Henry  E.  Young,  Esq.,   Chairman,  &c.,  Charleston,  S.  C. 


STATE  OF  NEBRASKA,         ) 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

LINCOLN,  April  8th,  1887.  ) 

Mr.  H.  E.  Young y  Chairman  Committee  Ladies'  Calhoun  Mon 
ument  : 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  kind  in 
vitation  to  attend  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  the  Calhoun 
Monument.  In  reply  I  regret  to  say  that  official  duties  here 
will  prevent  my  acceptance  of  the  same,  and  the  great  distance 
between  Nebraska  and  Charleston  will  probably  prevent  the  at 
tendance  of  a  representative  from  this  State.  Thanking  you 
for  your  invitation,  I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours, 

JOHN  M.  THAYER, 
Governor. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  VIRGINIA, 

GOVERNOR'S  OFFICE, 
RICHMOND,  VA.,  April  8,  1887.  ) 
Col.  H.  E.  Young,  Charleston,  8.  C.: 

MY  DEAR  SIB. — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  the 
monument  to  Mr.  Calhoun  on  the  26th  inst. 


135 

Please  be  kind  enough  to  tender  to  the  Ladies' Association  my 
thanks  for  the  invitation,  and  say  that  I  greatly  regret  that  the 
pressure  of  my  official  duties  here  will  prevent  my  attendance. 
If  it  were  possible  I  should  like  to  testify  my  respect  to   the 
memory  of  so  distinguished  a  patriot  and  eminent  statesman. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

FITZHUGH  LEE. 


STATE  OF  KANSAS,         } 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

TOPEKA,  April  8,  1887.  ) 
Hon.  H.  E.    Young,  Chairman : 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  kind  letter 
of  the  4th  inst.,  inviting  me  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of 
the  Calhoun  Monument,  at  Charleston. 

Please  accept,  and  convey  to  the  Committee  you  represent, 
assurances  of  my  profound  appreciation  of  the  great  honor  done 
me  by  this  invitation,  and  of  my  regrets  that  I  am  unable,  be 
cause  of  a  previous  engagement  for  the  date  named,  to  be 
present.  I  am,  sir,  with  great  respect, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  A.  MARTIN. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

BOSTON,  April  8,  1887. 
Henry  E.  Young,  Esq.,  Charleston,  S.  C.: 

DEAR  SIR — I  have  your  favor  of  the  4th  instant,  enclosing  a 
formal  invitation  to  be  present  in  your  city  on  April  26th  at  the 
unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monument,  which  has  been  erected 
by  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association. 

Permit  me  to  say  in  reply,  that  I  should  be  much  pleased  if  I 
could  visit  Charleston  at  the  time  and  for  the  purpose  named, 
but  the  Legislature  of  this  Commonwealth  will  still  be  in  ses 
sion,  and  attendance  upon  that,  together  with  my  other  official 
duties,  will  prevent  my  doing  so,  Nor  shall  I  find  it  convenient 
to  be  formally  represented. 


136 


Thanking  yon  for  the  courtesy  extended  to  me,    and   hoping 
that  the  event  may  be  highly  enjoyable  and   wholly  successful, 
I  am,  yours,  very  respectfully, 

OLIVER  AMES. 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  STATE  or  LOUISIANA, 

BATON  ROUGE,  April  9,  1887. 
Henry  E.  Young,  Esq.,  Chairman  Auxiliary  Committee  Ladies' 

Calhoun  Monument  Association,   Charleston,  S.  C.:- 

SIR — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
letter  of  April  2nd,  enclosing  an  invitation  to  attend  the  unveil 
ing  ceremonies  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  at  Charleston  on  the 
26th  inst.  I  regret  that  my  engagements  are  such  as  to  prevent 
my  acceptance.  It  would  have  given  me  great  pleasure  to  join 
the  citizens  of  South  Carolina  in  paying  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  that  patriot  statesman  whose  name  is  indissolubly  blended 
with  the  political  h'story  of  your  State  and  of  the  whole  Repub 
lic — one  whose  pure  character,  blameless  life,  lofty  aims,  pro 
found  learning  and  transcendent  mental  prowess  will  command 
the  admiration  of  the  noble,  the  just  and  the  wise,  always  and 
in  all  lands. 

At  the  request  of  the  association,  as  communicated  by  you, 
to  send  some  representative,  I  have  this  day  requested  General 
G-.  T.  Beauregard  to  attend  the  ceremonies  on  behalf  of  Louis 
iana,  as  I  know  no  one  more  worthy  to  represent  the  State  of  his 
adoption  nor  one  who  will  be  more  cordially  welcomed  in  his 
native  State.* 

Be  pleased  to  present  to  the  association  assurance  of  my  high 
esteem.  Respectfully  yours, 

S.  D.  McBNERY, 
Governor  of  Louisiana. 

STATE  or  RHODE  ISLAND,  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

PROVIDENCE,  April  11,  1887. 
Henry    E.     Young,    Esq.,     Chairman    Auxiliary    Committee, 
Charleston,  South  Carolina  : 

DEAR  SIR — I  regret  extremely  that  it  is  quite  out  of  my  pow 
er  to  accept  the  kind  invitation  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monu- 

*Gen.  G.  T.  Beauregard  is  a  native  of  Louis  ana. 


187 

ment  Association  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of 
their  monument  to  Calhoun,  to  take  place  at  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  on  Tuesday,  April  26th,  1887.  Believe  me, 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

GEORGE  P.  WHETMORE, 

Governor. 


STATE  OF  FLORIDA, 
EXECUTIVE  OFFICE, 

April  11,  1887. 
Maj.  H.  E.  Young,  Charleston,  8.  C.  : 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  esteemed 
favor  of  the  4th  instant,  inclosing  an  invitation  to  be  present  at 
the  unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monument.  Permit  me  to  express 
to  you  and  through  you  to  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Associ 
ation  my  grateful  appreciation  of  the  hope  so  courteously  ex 
pressed  by  you  that  I  should  be  able.  I  regret  that  I  will  not  be 
able  because  our  Legislature  being  in  session  I  shall  be  kept  in 
the  State  at  the  time  of  the  interesting  ceremonies. 

I  am  well  pleased,  however,  to  avail  myself  of  the  kind  permis 
sion  granted  for  me  to  designate  a  representative  to  attend  in 
my  stead,  and  have  sent  the  card  of  invitation  to  Capt.  Frank  P. 
Fleming,  of  Jacksonville,  who  I  trust  will  be  able  to  attend. 
Very  truly  yours, 

ED.  A.  PERRY. 


JACKSONVILLE,  FLA.,  April  21,  1887. 
Maj.  H.  E.  Young,  Chief  Marshal,  &c. ,  Charleston,  S.  C.  : 

DEAR  SIR— Governor  E.  A.  Perry,  of  our  State,  being  pre 
vented  from  accepting  in  person  the  invitation  of  the  Ladies' 
Calhoun  Monument  Association,  to  attend  the  unveiling  of  the 
Calhoun  Monument,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Legislature  is  in 
session,  and  authorized  by  your  note,  has  requested  me  to  rep 
resent  him  on  that  occasion. 

From  the  Governor's  note  of  request  to  me,  I  fear  that  he 
mistook  the  signature  to  your  note  accompanying  the  invitation, 
and  that  his  letter  of  acknowledgment  and  notificaton  of  my 
appointment  has  gone  to  a  wrong  address. 


138 

This  is  my  excuse  for  writing  you  to  say  that  I  hope  to  be 
present   on  the  occasion    as    Governor  Perry's   representative,, 
arriving  in  your  city  not  later  than  Monday  night. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

F.  P.  FLEMING. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  KENTUCKY,      } 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

FRANKFORT,  April  11,  1887.  ) 

DEAR  SIR — I  would  be  glad  to  avail  myself  of  the  opportu 
nity  to  testify  my  high  appreciation  of  the  character  and  public 
services  of  John  0.  Calhoun — the  grandest  and  purest  of  all  the 
long  list  of  illustrious  statesmen — by  my  presence  at  the  unveil 
ing  of  the  monument  erected  to  his  memory,  but  regret  that 
official  engagements  place  it  out  of  my  power  to  do  so. 
With  sincere  thanks  for  your  courteous  invitation, 
I  am,  very  respectfully, 

J.  PROCTOE  KNOTT. 


STATE  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA,  ) 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

RALEIGH,  April  12,  1887.  ) 
Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman,  &c. : 

DEAR  SIR — Governor  Scales  instructs  me  to  thank  you  for  an 
invitation  to  attend  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  the  Calhoun 
Monument,  April  26th  instant,  at  Charleston,  and  to  say  that 
he  deeply  regrets  his  inability  to  attend. 

Very  respectfully, 

CHARLES  H.  ARMFIELD, 
Private  Secretary. 


STATE  OF  OREGON,  ) 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

SALEM,  April  12,  1887.  ) 
H.  E.  Young,  Esq.,  Charleston,  S.  G.  : 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  beg  leave  to  express  my  regrets  at  not  being 
able  to  comply  with  your  kind  invitation  to  be  present  at  the 


139 

unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  in  your  city  on  the  26th 
instant. 

The  purity  of  his  personal  character,  his  stainless  reputation 
maintained  throughout  a  long  public  career,  his  acknowledged 
ability  and  unselfish  patriotism,  and  the  undoubted  honesty  and 
remarkable  earnestness  of  his  political  convictions,  stamped  John 
C.  Calhoun  as  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  his  age  and  of  this 
country,  and  deserve,  as  they  now  are  securing,  from  his  native 
State,  the  slight  testimonial  it  now  proposes  to  make  to  the 
memory  of  its  most  distinguished  son. 

Very  respectfully, 

SYLVESTER  PENNOYEK. 


CHIEF  EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,  ) 

MONTGOMERY,  ALABAMA,  April  12,  1887.  f 
H.  E.  Young,  Esq.,  Charleston,  8.  C. : 

DEAR  SIR — The  Governor  instructs  me  to  own  receipt  of  and 
thank  you  for  your  favor  of  the  14th  instant,  together  with  in 
vitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Calhoun  Monu 
ment.  The  Governor  much  regrets  that  other  engagements 
will  compel  him  to  forego  the  very  great  pleasure  of  being 
present.  Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  K.  JACKSON, 
Private  Secretary. 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARIZONA,  ) 

OFFICE  OF  THE  GOVERNOR, 
PRESCOTT,  ARIZONA,  April  13,  1887.      ) 
SIR — Be  kind  enough  to   convey  to  the    "  Ladies'   Calhoun 
Monument  Association"  my  thanks  for  their  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  the  monument,  Tuesday, 
April  26th,    1887.     1  sincerely  regret,   owing  to  public  duties 
here,  my  inability  to  be  present. 

South  Carolina  honors  herself  in  erecting  a  monument  in 
commemoration  of  the  life  services  of  one  of  her  most  distin 
guished  sons.  John  Caldwell  Calhoun's  name  is  inseparably 
connected  with  the  history,  not  only  of  South  Carolina,  but  of 


140 

the  United  States.  As  a  Member  of  Congress,  Secretary  of  War, 
Vice-President  and  United  States  Senator  his  record  was  "the 
indisputable  basis  of  all  high  character,  unspotted  integrity  and 
honor  unimpeachable." 

Mr.  Webster  only  rendered  justice  in  his  estimate  of  his  char 
acter  when,  announcing  his  death,  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
he  said,  "firm  in  his  purposes,  patriotic  and  honest,  as  I  am 
sure  he  was,  in  the  principles  he  espoused  and  in  the  measures 
he  defended,  I  do  not  believe  that,  aside  from  his  large  regard 
for  that  species  of  distinction  that  conducted  him  t6  eminent 
stations  for  the  benefit  of  the  Republic,  he  had  a  selfish  motive 
or  a  selfish  feeling/' 

What  higher  enconium  could  be  passed  on  any  statesman  ? 
I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  yours, 

0.   MEYER  ZULICK. 
Hon.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman,  &c.,  Charleston,  8.  C. 


STATE  OP  CONNECTICUT,  } 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

HARTPORD,  April  13,  1887.  ) 

MY  DEAR  SIR — Governor  Lounsbury  directs  me  to  express  to 
you  and  the  Association  his  sincere  thanks  for  the  kind  invita 
tion  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremony  of  the  Calhoun 
Monument,  and  that  he  regrets  very  much  the  existence  of  other 
engagements  which  will  prevent  the  pleasure  of  an  acceptance. 
Sincerely,  yours, 

GEORGE  P.  MCLEAN, 

Private  Secretary. 
To  H.  E.  Young. 


STATE  OP  NEW  JERSEY, 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

TRENTON,  April,  13,  1887. 
Hon.  H.E.  Young,  Chairman: 

DEAR  SIR — I  very  much  regret  that  my  public  duties  will  pre 
vent  my  being  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  the  monu 
ment  to  the  memory  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  at  Charleston,  on 


141 

Tuesday,  April  26th,  1887,  and  in  accordance  with  your  sugges 
tion,  I  have  requested  William  J.  DeTreville,   Esq.,  of  Orange- 
burg,  S.  C.,  to  represent  me  on  that  occasion. 
I  am,  very  truly  yours, 

ROBERT.  S.  GREEN. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 
EXECUTIVE   CHAMBER, 

HARRISBURG,  April  14,  1887. 
H.  E.    Young,    Chairman    Gentlemen's   Auxiliary    Committee 
of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association,   Charleston, 
South  Carolina: 

MY  DEAR  SIR — Your  letter  of  the  4th  instant,  inclosing  the 
formal  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Calhoun 
Monument,  erected  by  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Associa 
tion  at  Marion  Square,  Charleston,  S.  C.,  on  the  26th  April, 
has  been  received.  I  am  honored  by  the  invitation,  and  would  be 
greatly  pleased  to  attend  the  interesting  ceremonies  connected 
with  the  occasion,  did  public  duties  permit.  I  am,  however,  so 
constantly  engaged  during  the  session  of  the  Legislature  that  it 
will  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  absent  at  the  time  referred  to. 

Please  convey  to  your  committee,  and  accept  for  yourself,  my 
grateful  thanks  for  the  honor  conferred  by  the  invitation,  and 
believe  me,  Very  cordially  yours, 

JAMES  A.  BEAVER. 


EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,      ) 

MICHIGAN, 

LANSING,  April  15,  1887.  ) 

H.    E.    Young,   Chairman   Gentlemen's    Auxiliary    Committee, 
Charleston,  S.  C. :' 

DEAR  SIR — Your  communication  of  April  4th,  conveying  to 
me  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Calhoun 
Monument  in  your  city  on  the  26th  day  of  April,  at  hand. 
Permit  me  in  reply  to  say  that  the  honor  you  would  confer  will 
necessarily  call  for  my  regrets  instead  of  my  presence  upon  that 
occasion.  My  time  is  so  occupied  with  official  business  here  that 

19 


142 

it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  spare  the  time  necessary  to  make  a 
visit  to  your  State. 

Believing  that  my  excuse  will  be  received  in  the  good  faith  in 
which  it  is  offered,  I  am, 

Eespectfully  yours, 

C.  G.  LUCE, 
Governor. 


STATE  OF  INDIANA,  } 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  GOVERNOR'S  OFFICE, 

INDIANAPOLIS,  April  19,  1887. ) 
Hon.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman  of  the  Auxiliary   Committee 

the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association,  Charleston,  8.  C.: 

MY  DEAR  SIR — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  yours  enclosing  an  invitation  from  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Mon 
ument  Association  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monu 
ment  in  the  City  of  Charleston,  April  26th,  1*87. 

I  regret  that  official  engagements  prevent  me  from  being  pres 
ent.  The  ladies  composing  the  Calhoun  Monument  Association, 
as  well  as  the  entire  people  of  South  Carolina,  honor  themselves 
and  their  State  in  erecting  a  monument  in  commemoration  of 
one  of  her  most  gifted  sons.  One  who  filled  a  position  in  nearly 
every  department  of  the  Federal  Government,  having  risen  from 
an  humble  position  in  life  to  the  second  office  within  the  gift  of 
his  countrymen,  fully  exemplifies  the  possibilities  of  American 
citizenship. 

He  discharged  the  duties  of  every  public  station  to  which  he 
was  called  with  strict  fidelity,  and  gave  to  their  discharge  a  most 
laborious  attention  and  profound  thought,  and  however  much 
other  statesmen  of  his  time  differed  with  him  on  questions  of 
public  policy,  none  ever  doubted  his  sincerity  and  patriotic  de 
sire  as  he  saw  and  understood  the  situation. 

His  mind  was  a  wonderful  storehouse  of  learning  and  infor 
mation.  His  advocacy  of  public  measures  was  always  charac 
terized  by  strong,  concise,  aggressive  reasoning,  and  impressed 
with  an  eloquence,  though  generally  unimpassioned  and  without 
attempt  at  ornament,  yet  earnest,  persuasive  and  clothed  with 
great  dignity  of  manner. 


143 


He  was  on  the  stage  of  political  action  in  the  period  of  our 
country's  history  that,  perhaps,  produced  our  greatest  states 
men  ;  was  contemporaneous  with  Webster,  Clay,  Benton  and 
others,  and  in  ability  was  their  peer,  and  with  them,  has  left  his 
name  on  the  imperishable  records  of  our  country's  history.  As 
a  statesman,  he  may  have  made  mistakes,  but  let  those  only  who 
have  made  none  dare  to  point  them  out. 

He  lived  a  life  of  unspotted  integrity,  and  left  behind  him  a 
public  and  a  private  character  of  unimpeachable  honor. 

When  the  mothers  and  daughters  of  South  Carolina  shall  un 
veil  the  structure,  the  work  of  their  creation,  reared  to  the 
memory  of  South  Carolina's  most  illustrious  son,  it  can  be  truly 
said  by  all  who  may  behold  it,  that  in  the  death  of  him  whose 
name  it  commemorates,  a  great  man  fell. 

It  is  my  earnest  wish  that  the  admirable  arrangements  for  the 
unveiling  ceremonies  may  have  a  successful  termination,  and  the 
beautiful  monument  may  ever  remain  the  pride  of  the  people  of 
your  State  and  bear  enduring  testimony  to  the  faithful  labors  of 
the  ladies  of  South  Carolina  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  him, 
who,  in  his  lifetime,  was  her  most  distinguished  citizen. 
With  great  respect,  truly  yours, 

ISAAC  P.  GRAY. 


STATE  OF  MISSISSIPPI, 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 
JACKSON,  Miss.,  April  19,  1887. 
Hon.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman,  &c.,  Charleston,  S.    C.  : 

DEAK  SIR — I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  favor, 
enclosing  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremo 
nies  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  on  the  26th  instant.  It  would 
give  me  more  pleasure  than  I  can  express  to  join  in  paying 
honor  to  the  memory  of  the  distinguished  statesman  whose 
name  fills  so  large  a  space  in  American  history.  Official  engage 
ments,  however,  will  prevent  my  acceptance.  In  compliance 
with  your  communication  to  have  a  representative  upon  the  oc 
casion,  I  have  requested  Hon.  Charles  E.  Hooker,  member  elect 
of  Congress  to  be  present  on  behalf  of  Mississippi,  and  have 


144 

assured  him  of  a  warm  and  cordial  welcome  at  the  hands  of  the 
patriotic  people  of  his  native  State. 

Thanking  the  Association  for  the  honor  paid  me, 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT    LOWRY. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  April  10th,  1887. 
Dear  Madam: 

I  am  much  obliged  to  the  ladies  of  your  Association  for  their 
kind  invitation  to  the  unveiling,  on  the  26th  inst.,  of  the  monu 
ment  to  South  Carolina's  great  orator,  statesman  and  patriot, 
John  C.  Calhoun. 

I  regret  very  much  that  my  engagements  here  at  that  time, 
and  the  dangerous  illness  of  a  member  of  my  family,  will  de 
prive  me  of  the  pleasure  and  honor  of  participating  in  the 
ceremonies. 

I  remain,  yours  very  truly, 

G.  T.  BEAUREGARD. 

Mrs.  Joseph  Blackman,  Corresponding  Secretary  Ladies'  Calhoun 
Monument  Association,  Charleston,  8.  G. 


CITY  OF  CHARLESTON, 
EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

April  16,  ]887. 

To  the  Officers  and  Directresses  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monu 
ment  Association : 

LADIES — I  would  respectfully  inform  you  that  your  invita 
tion  to  the  City  Council  to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  ceremo 
nies  of  the  Calhoun  Monument,  Marion  Square,  on  Tuesday, 
April  26th,  was  presented  to  the  City  Council  on  the  12th  in 
stant,  and  was  unanimously  accepted. 

With  great  respect, 

W.  W.  SIMONS, 

Cleric  of  Council. 


145 

OFFICE  CLERK  AND  TREASURER,          } 
CITY  OF  WILMINGTON,  N.  C., 

April  19,  1887.  ) 
H.  E.  Young,  Esq.,   Chairman,  &c.: 

DEAR  SIR — At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  held  on 
the  18th  instant,  the  Mayor  presented  an  invitation  of  the 
Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association  to  attend  the  unveiling 
of  the  monument  on  the  26th  instant,  the  following  action  was 
had: 

Resolved,  That  this  Board  gratefully  acknowledge  the  invitation  referred 
to,  and  accept  it  as  renewed  evidence  of  the  kindly  feelings  of  sympathy 
which  have  so  long  existed  between  the  people  of  Charleston  and  Wilmington. 

Resolved.  That  this  Board,  and  the  people  of  Wilmington,  cordially  sym 
pathize  with  and  applaud  the  patriotic  and  noble  spirit  or  the  ladies  of  the 
Calhoun  Monument  Association  which  has  inspired  them  in  their  sacred 
work. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  Resolutions  be  forwarded  by  the  Clerk  and 
Treasurer  to  the  officers  of  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association. 

Very  respectfully, 

WILLIAM  A.  WILSON, 

Clerk  and  Treasurer. 


MAYOR'S  OFFICE, 
FREDERICKSBURG,  VA., 

April  20,  1887. 

H.  E.    Young,  Esq.,     Chairman  Ladies'    Calhoun    Monument 
Association,   Charleston,  S.  C.  : 

DEAR  SIR — I  beg  to  acknowledge  your  kindly  letter  of  the 
7th  inst.,  enclosing  invitation  from  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monu 
ment  Association  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  unveiling  of  the  mon 
ument  to  Mr.  Calhoun  on  the  26th  inst.,  and  herewith  enclose 
a  copy  of  the  resolutions  responding  to  the  invitation. 

Be  assured  that  the  memory  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  great  states 
man  and  pure  patriot  is  yet  fragrant  among  us,  as  of  all  true 
Virginians,  and  will  ever  be  held  in  highest  honor  by  us.  We 
cordially  congratulate  the  ladies  on  the  completion  of  the  fitting 
honor  to  the  great  and  good  man. 

Very  respectfully, 

J.  HAZARD, 
Mayor. 


146 

OFFICE  CLERK  OF  COUNCIL,         ) 
PETERSBURG,  VA.,   April    20,  1887.  j 
Hon.  T.  J.  Janatt,  Mayor  of  Petersburg,  Va.  : 

DEAR  SIR— At  a  meeting  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City 
of  Petersburg,  held  April  19th,  1887,  the  following  resolutions 
were  adopted  : 

WHEREAS,  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association  of  South  Carolina 
have  extended  to  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  Petersburg, 
an  invitation  to  be  present  in  the  City  of  Charleston  on  the  26th  day  of  April, 
1887,  at  the  unveiling  ceremonies  of  their  monument  to  John  C.  Calhoun, 
South  Carolina's  distinguished  son;  therefore 

1.  Be  it  resolved,  By  the  Common  Council  that  this  body  regrets  its  inabil 
ity  to  accept  the  invitation  so  extended,  to  take  part  with  others  in  honoring 
the  memory  of  that  eminent  and  pure  American  patriot. 

2.  That  the  Hon.  F.  J.  Janatt.  the  Mayor  of  this  city,    be  requested  to 
furnish  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  to  the  Secretary  of  said  association. 

Yours  respectfully, 

F,  E.  RUSSELL, 

Clerk  Council. 


OFFICE  OF  MAYOR,  ) 

PETERSBURG,  VA.,   April  22,  1887.  ) 
H.  E.  Young,  Esq.,  Chairman,  &c.,  Ladies*  Galhoun  Monument 

Association : 

DEAR  SIR — At  a  meeting  of  our  Common  Council  held  on 
the  19th  inst.,  the  enclosed  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted, 
and  the  Mayor  of  the  city  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  them 
through  you  to  the  ladies  of  the  Calhoun  Monument  Associa 
tion. 

In  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Council  I  enclose,  with 
much  pleasure,  the  resolutions  as  passed,  with  the  regret  that  I 
cannot  be  present  on  account  of  sickness  which  has  confined  me 
to  my  room  and  bed  since  the  middle  of  last  January.  It  would 
afford  me  so  much  pleasure  to  visit  Charleston  then,  and  see 
whether  I  could  meet  any  of  the  good  and  great  men  of  South 
Carolina,  whose  acquaintance  I  made  at  Janatt's  Hotel,  while 
proprietor,  from  the  1st  of  January,  1858,  until  January,  1862. 
I  knew  Mr.  Calhoun,  Butler,  Keitt,  Ehett,  McQueen  and  others. 
I  became  acquainted  with  them  by  seeing  them  on  their  way  to 


147 

the  Virginia  Springs  in  the  summer,  or  on  their  way  to  Washing 
ton  to  attend  the  meeting  of  Congress.  I  very  often  sigh  and 
wish  we  had  a  Calhoun  and  a  Clay  and  others  of  those  days 
now,  but  those  good  men  and  times  have  passed  away,  and  I  too 
shall  soon  be  gone,  being  in  my  seventieth  year. 

Hoping  that  the  ladies  (God  bless  them),  and  the  gentlemen 
interested  with  them,  may  enjoy  every  pleasure  and  realize  their 
fullest  expectations  on  that  occasion,  I  remain. 
Yours  very  truly, 

T.  J.  JANATT, 
Mayor  Petersburg,  Va. 


COUNCIL  CHAMBER,  ) 

RICHMOND,  VA.,  April   21,  1887.  j 

Mr.  Henry  E.  Young,  Chairman  Gentlemen's  Auxiliary  Com 
mittee,  &c.  : 

DEAR  SIR — Your  letter  of  April  7th,  enclosing  an  invitation 
from  the  Ladies'  Calhoun  Monument  Association  to  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  of  this  city,  requesting  their  presence  at  the  ceremo 
nies  attending  upon  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  to  Mr.  Cal 
houn  has  been  received.  I  am  instructed  to  return  the  sincere 
thanks  of  the  Board  for  the  very  courteous  invitation  and  convey 
their  regrets  at  not  being  able  to  accept  the  same. 
Very  respectfully, 

BEN.  T.  AUGUST, 
Clerk  Board  of  Aldermen. 


YC  50457 


3C 


:    . 


m^,m 


